March 9, 2020
Dear WES Families,
The wellness of our community continues to be our highest priority. I would like to provide some updates regarding WES’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and remind you of WES’s new school policy regarding travel.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We look forward to hosting several upcoming community events, including the Accepted Families Reception, our annual Grade 4 Biography Tea, and
Frozen Jr
., the Grade 6 musical. As a friendly reminder, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, please make sure that all attendees, including your guests, have not recently traveled to a warning
level 2 or 3 zone
(as identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), have not had contact with anyone who has, and are not exhibiting a fever or any other signs of illness.
We have also made the decision to cancel this month’s First Friday, as many of the activities require off-campus travel or members of our community going to or sending materials to vulnerable populations.
LOCAL SELF-QUARANTINE ENCOURAGED BY DC MAYOR BOWSER
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser held a
brief press conference today
in which she encouraged anyone who
attended Christ Church Georgetown on O Street NW on Feb. 24 or between Feb. 28 and March 3 to self-quarantine for 14 days and to call their health care provider immediately. If you are affected by this self-quarantine, please email Ann Freniere,
afreniere@w-e-s.org
,
and Stacey Bailey, WES’s school nurse,
sbailey@w-e-s.org
, as soon as possible.
FAMILY TRAVEL
We’d also like to remind our community of the importance of reporting travel of any family member to an area identified as a level 2 or 3 zone by the CDC to
Ann
or
Stacey
. The parent of a middle school student traveled to Rome from March 2-5. We were initially unaware of this travel, and the student was on campus Friday, March 6. However, I have now spoken with the family, and the student will follow WES’s policy of self-quarantining for 14 days. Please be aware that no member of the family is currently ill, the parent’s visit was isolated to Rome, and the parent has had no contact with the student as he had self-quarantined upon his return from Italy. Our policy is one of caution to protect the health of our entire community.
As mentioned in my previous note, we have implemented additional cleaning and hand-washing measures throughout the school to promote good hygiene and to protect the health of the entire community.
Once again, the situation is highly fluid, and we will be in frequent touch.
Sincerely,
