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Dear GMS Community,

This pandemic, along with the public health response, has affected us in fits and bursts over the past ten months. There have been times of great uncertainty and constant change, and there have been times of relative calm and predictability. We seem to be entering one of those tumultuous periods again. We’re all closely watching the current surge and news of new virus variants that could dramatically impact cases and transmission over the next few months. And on the regulatory side, late last week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released new and significantly revised guidelines for public and private schools. This week’s reopening update is longer than most, as we have a lot of important information to share. Thank you for your continued patience and partnership. 

Timing for Return to In-Person Instruction
When we returned from the Holiday Break, we announced that students would remain in remote learning at least through the end of January. In the following communication, bringing students back to campus was pushed out to the week of February 22. Many parents asked in last week’s survey about this shift in timing. The most significant factor right now is the challenge of finding the best possible COVID testing partner so that we can begin student and staff testing. We feel that it’s critically important to find one that will provide a reliable and predictable experience for our staff and families while also meeting our school’s needs about logistical issues such as insurance billing.

Since our most recent communication, the California Department of Public Health released new guidelines, the “COVID-19 and Reopening In-Person Instruction Framework and Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools in California, which supersedes much of the previous guidance and contains new regulations. One of the most significant new requirements is that all schools must submit a COVID-19 Safety Plan (CSP) to both Santa Clara County and the California “School Safety for All” team. Our COVID Response Team is working to complete the CSP by the February 1 deadline; the state and county then have one week to review our CSP and respond. While we are confident about our preparations, there is a chance that these agencies will come back to GMS with additional steps that we must take. We feel it is important to be transparent that, though we are making every effort to bring students back to campus the week of February 22, aspects of that timing are now in the state’s hands.

Grade Level Rotation Model
This next phase of our staged re-opening shifts to our Grade Level Rotation Learning Model. Many parents asked questions about this new model in last week’s survey. We have updated the FAQ on our website with additional details, and here are some of the highlights. 

  • In the Grade Level Rotation Model, each grade level of students will have one week of on-campus learning, followed by two weeks of remote learning. Students will remain in their small, stable cohorts, with teachers rotating between groups of students throughout the day and the week. We plan to continue following the current Remote Learning schedule, with students in class from 8:20 to 3:20 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Wednesdays will continue to be an at-home day for all grades for more independent work. Following this same schedule when students are on campus provides consistency for all of our students, whether they’ve chosen to return to in-person instruction or will continue with remote learning for the remainder of the school year.

  • The Grade Level Rotation Model has the advantage that students see all of their teachers during the in-person time and are on campus for full school days. From a health and safety point of view, the 2-week break between weeks of in-person learning allows quarantine time in case of an exposure.

  • We are still exploring our options for providing after school programs and/or supervision until 5:00 pm.

  • If we are able to resume in-person instruction the week of February 22, these are the weeks that each grade level will be on campus. Please note that there are days off for staff in-services, teacher workdays, Spring Break, Intersession, and federal holidays that are not noted in this table. Please refer to the GMS Families Calendar for those dates.
Reopening Pages on our Website
We have updated the School Reopening information at https://www.girlsms.org/about/2020-21-school-reopening-plans to reflect updated information about the Grade Level Rotation Model have posted additional compliance documents required by the new state guidelines. We consolidated all current reopening and Covid-19 information on the public portion of our website; content on the Family Portal now consists of archived material only.

Preliminary Survey Results
At this writing, 86 families have responded to last week’s survey, representing just under half of each grade level. More than 85% of families who responded have indicated that they are either very likely or somewhat likely to return to campus. If you have not yet responded, the linked survey is not required and it is also not binding. We hope to hear from as many families as possible to help facilitate our planning.

Community Conversations on Reopening
Please mark your calendar for our February Community Conversation on Reopening, where we will update you on our decision-making process, go over details of the Grade Level Rotation Model, share information about student testing protocols, and review the health and safety protocols already in place.
We plan to leave time for questions as well. The conversations in both English and Spanish will be recorded and posted on our Reopening page.

  • Thursday, February 4, from 5:00 - 6:00 pm (English)
  • Saturday, February 6, from 4:00 - 5:00 pm (Spanish)

Please feel free to reach out if you have questions, either in your survey response or by emailing reopening@girlsms.org. Everyone on our team reads those messages, and we take great care to respond to each one.

In partnership,
The GMS COVID Response Team

Laura Reeve, Assistant Head of School
Elise DeYoung, Chief Business Officer
Simone Hedinger, Director of Athletics and Facilities
Marjorie Lucks, Director of Special Projects
Tammy Patton, Human Resources Manager
Tiffany Chao, Director of Student Services
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