Dear WES Families,
I hope you are enjoying your break and that your holidays have been filled with love, family, and friends.
I am once again writing to you with important updates regarding our COVID-19 policies. Since Nurse Bailey sent her last COVID Alert, three students in Middle School, one student in Elementary, and three WES employees have tested positive, and several other members of our community have positive cases in their immediate families.
January 2 Testing
Our testing on Sunday, January 2, takes on increased importance to protect the health and wellness of our community. As a reminder, testing will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the WES Library. Family members are also welcome to test, if they so choose. However, you must pre-register any interested family member following these instructions. It is very important that you use the code FAMILYEPISCOPAL when registering family members. (WES students and employees do not need to register). This ensures the testing results are shared only with you (and not the school) and also allows Capital Diagnostics to bill the appropriate party.
No School on January 3
In order to ensure that we have all test results prior to the start of school and to prepare for the anticipated increase in positive cases, there will be no school for students on January 3 - this will be a professional day for faculty and staff. Classes will resume for students on Tuesday, January 4.
COVID-19 Policies
We are pleased to share that 91% of our eligible students will be fully vaccinated by January 3. Prior to break, I communicated that a high vaccination rate may enable us to enjoy greater flexibility with some of our policies for fully vaccinated students. Due to the number of cases we are seeing among our community and the information we currently have regarding the transmissibility of the omicron variant, we will not be altering our policies at this time, except to comply with the CDC quarantine guidance that was released yesterday.
As of yesterday, since research shows the majority of COVID transmission occurs early in the course of the illness, the CDC recommends that those who tested positive may return from quarantine after 5 days if they are asymptomatic. They should continue to wear a mask when around others for 5 more days (which is already required by WES policy). The CDC also shortened quarantine time to 5 days for unvaccinated individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19, but our students continue to have the option to participate in our test-to-stay program instead of quarantining.
Basketball Season
Although we have no formal updates to announce at this time, we are in conversation with local independent schools about how the current COVID situation may affect our policies for basketball season. We will continue to update you as decisions are made.
Commitment to On-Site Learning & Upcoming Community Forums
We believe children learn best in an on-site learning environment and that our COVID-19 policies provide multiple safeguards to protect the health and wellness of our community. We know the rising number of COVID cases may have raised questions and/or heightened anxiety levels for some families. Consequently, I wish to be candid about our plans for the future. We will continue to offer our program on campus as long as we have appropriate staffing levels and public officials allow us to do so.
We will hold two community forums on Monday, January 3, one at 9 a.m. and one at 6:30 p.m. There will be no formal presentation, but Nurse Bailey and I will be present to answer any questions you may have about the recent turn of events and our COVID policies. You can join the 9 a.m. session HERE and the 6:30 p.m. session HERE. Links to the recordings will be shared after the events and will also be available in the COVID-19 Resource Board in the Parent Portal.
Thank you for enduring all of the challenges the pandemic has brought with grace and flexibility. I am very thankful for our incredible families, and I hope the rest of your break brings wonderful new memories for you and your loved ones.
Sincerely,
