SAAS Message from Head of School, November 15
Good Evening SAAS Families,
We heard from Governor Inslee that today is the most dangerous public health day in Washington in the last 100 years, as together we contemplate the recent community health information and the impending possibility of a third wave and surge that will impact our families, our faculty and staff, and our community at large.
This, in our opinion, is not the time to experiment with larger numbers of students coming onto campus in the form of Retreats on Campus or in-person classroom learning. Those gatherings, even in pods of 10 or socially distanced across our campus, are numbers that we feel should not be encouraged to come together in our Capitol Hill neighborhood during this time of state-wide restraint.
Despite the surge in cases and the guidelines provided today by the Governor, we remain hopeful that we’ll be able to have students back on campus in January and are working hard towards that goal. We are optimistic about the emerging science and recent studies related to school transmission and confident that our safety precautions provide a path to bringing students to campus in January.
We are hopeful that the progress towards an effective and widely available vaccine will continue, that our political leadership will provide increasingly more useful guidance and support that cuts across ideological differences, and that it is aligned at the national, state, and local levels. Those developments will go a long way towards addressing the current surge in cases and in providing a pathway back to school on campus.
DECISION for December Retreats on Campus
So, in support of the health and well-being of SAAS and our broader community, SAAS will postpone our December Retreats on Campus.
- No Middle School Retreats on Campus (December 7, 8 and 10)
- No Upper School Retreats on Campus (December 14, 15, 17, and 18)
- Academic classes will occur remotely with the recently announced daily schedule.
We will continue to look for opportunities to bring students together in small, specific groups of 5 or less for arts, athletics, and club experiences within the guidelines and restrictions for these programs. There will also be additional virtual opportunities for connection, physical activity, and engagement being introduced starting in Winter Tri. Virtual Outdoor Club, Martin Brakke hosting an avalanche awareness course through SAAS TV, and continued Middle School Cardinal Strong activities are only a few of the activities to look forward to.
Looking forward to January
I’m also sharing our current thinking on getting students back on campus starting in January. There will be additional discussions with our internal teams this week to finalize these plans, and a more detailed schedule will be provided before we leave for Thanksgiving break.
Remote - January 5
Students will return on Tuesday, January 5, after Winter Break and be attending class remotely that week. This will be a week that faculty and staff are able to return on campus to continue physically acclimating to campus and getting additional safety orientation. This week will allow time for travel isolation should families need it from the break and COVID testing options for faculty/staff. We are still evaluating the opportunities to provide student testing prior to their return to in-person classroom learning
Retreats on Campus - Weeks of January 11 and January 19
These two weeks in January are planned for students to return to Retreats on Campus in pods of 10, socially distanced in large convening spaces. Each grade will be scheduled on a day during these two weeks to be with their fellow classmates outside of class. All other grades that are not scheduled for that day will be remote learning in their block schedule.
Interim Hybrid - January 25 through the end of Winter Tri
Our hopes are to begin returning students to in-person learning, on campus on a grade level or two at a time for a week at a time. This will be a return to a socially distanced classroom experience toward a hopeful, full hybrid plan later in the spring.
We remain committed to providing remote options for any students needing or preferring that option through this school year.
Throughout December, families will be receiving additional safety training and orientation information in preparation for our safe return in January. We know we’ve communicated much of this before but feel reinforcement is important before we come back together.
Join us for a Town Hall this week.
I invite you to attend any of the Town Halls scheduled for this week where members of leadership and I will make ourselves available to answer any questions - new or already answered - for your family.
Monday, November 16, 6 PM: *Middle School Town Hall, Pre-Register Here
Thursday, November 19, 6 PM: *Upper School Town Hall, Pre-Register Here
This continues to be a challenging year for our school and our nation. In the midst of all these challenges, I continue to be grateful to be a part of this community. We are taking head-on the community challenges and concerns with the impacts of this pandemic and have a steadfast commitment to our SAAS kids in whatever form of learning that is taking place right now.
Please don’t hesitate to connect. Your insights are important to us as we move through this together.
Head of School
