Dear Upper School Parents,
I want to update you on the Covid-19 occurrences on our campus. As of now, we have sixteen positive cases among our student body and five positive cases among our faculty. An additional twelve faculty are quarantined for close contact or symptoms. Over the last few days, we have been working diligently to determine a prudent path forward. For the safety and wellbeing of our community, we will remain in Distance Learning up until Thanksgiving Break, which means we will return to campus on Monday, November 30th.
We have chosen to remain in Distance Learning up until Thanksgiving Break because we want to be absolutely certain that no further transmission occurs. This path will allow for a clean start after the Thanksgiving break with all mandatory quarantines resolved. It is also most important that we be cautious in the weeks ahead so as not to put ourselves in a similar situation of facing possible section or school closures after the break. As students may gather with friends outside of school and we may gather with our extended families for Thanksgiving, I encourage you to follow proper safety precautions to reduce the transmission of Covid-19.
While Distance Learning is a challenge for many families, we know it is a true burden for some. If it is not possible to accommodate your student’s distance learning outside of school, the upper school building will be available for non-quarantined students to do their distance learning from campus during normal school hours beginning Wednesday, November 11th through Friday, November 20th. If you need this accommodation for your student(s), you must sign up in advance by contacting Mr. Patrick Malone at patrick.malone@greatheartsirving.org. We will have limited staff available to monitor students while on campus; however, they will not be providing any instruction or academic support.
Thank you, families, for your flexibility, patience, and support as we walk through this challenging moment together. On behalf of all of the faculty, we look forward to returning to campus after Thanksgiving Break.
Yours in partnership,
