From the Headmaster: July Update

7/30/2021

July 30, 2021

Dear Saints Parents,

Summer greetings to you and your family. I hope that the summer of 2021 has afforded opportunities for rest, adventure, and quality family time, particularly in ways that may not have been possible last summer. It has been wonderful to experience a more typical summer rhythm here at St. Christopher’s, with camps, classes, campus improvements and more that feel much more like the summer of 2019 than the summer of 2020.

I am writing today to provide you with an update on our planning and approach for the coming school year. We have three primary goals that inform all of our decision making for the 2021-2022 school year—1. To foster student and employee health and well being. 2. To prioritize and emphasize in-person, on-campus learning. 3. Whenever and wherever practical, to return school operations “to normal,” particularly for portions of our school population with high vaccination rates.

We are pleased and proud that since this past spring, more than 90% of our employees have self-reported as being fully vaccinated. In addition, while we continue to collect student vaccination information through our Magnus health portal, it appears highly likely that a majority, perhaps a considerable majority, of students in Grades 7-12 will be fully vaccinated by the opening of school. These high rates of vaccination among our eligible students and faculty and staff enable us to teach, learn, and gather in ways that simply were not possible last school year. It also differentiates the St. Christopher’s community from other communities and localities throughout our region and country with vaccination rates far lower than ours.

Like you, we have been monitoring the Richmond region’s COVID metrics for cases and hospitalizations through the summer months. We are also continuing to monitor recommendations from the Virginia Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and other health organizations providing schools with medical guidance at this time. Each organization emphasizes the importance of in-person learning and that COVID conditions vary around the country and within each state and locality.

Moreover, today we understand, much better than one year ago, the manner in which COVID affects young people versus the general population. Mitigation measures such as enhanced ventilation, spacing out student desks wherever possible, and continuing targeted COVID testing on campus for Upper School students engaged in higher-risk indoor activities will continue to provide added layers of safety for our students and faculty. We were able to offer a safe teaching and learning environment for our community during the 2020-2021 school year, and we are excited to do the same and more in 2021-2022, buoyed by high Saints community vaccination rates and local cases counts which, while rising now, are still lower than at nearly any point from the 2020-2021 school year.

With all of these factors in mind, what follows are modifications we are planning for the first five weeks of school. Among many other lessons, COVID has taught us the need to remain nimble in our decision making. Therefore, we consider all of the following adjustments to be preliminary and in effect through September 30. Toward the end of September, we will assess community health and wellness information and determine whether to maintain or adjust the following procedures. Of course, it is possible that we may make certain adjustments prior to September 30 or even prior to the start of school, as necessary for the wellbeing of students, faculty, and staff.

The School Day

We will not require a formal health screening in carpool through Ruvna this year, though we ask that you remain vigilant in assessing your son’s health each morning. It is critical that your son stay home from school if he shows any signs of illness, COVID-related or otherwise. Temperature checks will no longer take place in carpool.

The Sibling Shuttle, which runs between St. Catherine’s and St. Christopher’s at 7:40 a.m. for joint families, will return this year. More information to follow in August.

Mask Requirements

Masking is not required for any Saints community member when on campus outdoors. Any Saints community member may choose to mask when on campus outdoors, and we will respect and honor that choice.

In Grades JK- 6, masking will be required indoors for all students through at least September 30. By September 30, based on local and St. Christopher’s-specific health data, we will determine whether to extend the mask requirement for the Lower School and Grade 6 or to end it.

For Grades 7-12, we will finalize masking policies closer to the start of school, once we have more complete vaccination information on our student population. We strongly encourage families to complete the Magnus Health forms online as promptly as possible and also to discuss with your family physician the benefits of vaccination for your child, ages 12 and above.

Updated COVID Exposure and Quarantine Policies

Students, parents, and faculty/staff will still be required to report a confirmed COVID diagnosis or confirmed COVID exposure confidentially to the divisional school nurse or the Director of Health Services immediately upon diagnosis. The health staff will provide guidance throughout recovery and assist with school reentry.

If your son is waiting on the results of a COVID test, he should remain at home until the test results are final.

When There is a Confirmed COVID Case on Campus:

Parents of students in an affected homeroom (Lower School) or students in close contact (Middle and Upper Schools) and affected faculty/staff will receive a notification via email followed by contact by the divisional health staff.
Confidentiality of the diagnosed student or employee will be maintained in accordance with applicable law.
Unvaccinated children and employees who are in close contact with an individual confirmed to be infected by COVID will be required to quarantine for 7 (with negative PCR test) to 10 days. Close contact is defined as an unvaccinated individual being within 6 feet unmasked or within 3 feet with a well-fitted mask for more than 15 minutes at one time or cumulative over a 24 hour period. The quarantine will begin at the end of the academic school day. (You will not need to pick up your child mid-day.) This quarantine policy will be in effect in all divisions, including the Lower School. Only close contacts in a Lower School homeroom will need to quarantine this year.
Vaccinated students will not be required to quarantine, per current VDH and CDC guidelines.
We will continue to maintain a COVID-19 dashboard, accessible at any time to parents through SaintsNet.

Virtual Learning

In alignment with the CDC’s priority of a return to in-person instruction, as well as St. Christopher’s long standing emphasis on relational learning on campus, we will not offer virtual learning as an option for day-to-day instruction. Virtual learning will only be offered in quarantine situations or other long-term medical circumstances at the discretion of the division head or headmaster.

Athletics

We anticipate offering a typical and “pre-COVID” fall season of athletic competition for Middle and Upper School students. We are looking forward to welcoming parents, family, friends, and other community members back to campus this fall for athletic competitions. We will make decisions regarding protocols for winter athletics in October.

The Arts

Performing arts will return in all divisions this fall. Social distancing and masking will be implemented for indoor activities deemed to be higher risk for potential COVID transmission. Details specific to each performing arts group will be communicated by our new Director of the Arts, Kerry Court, in the coming weeks.

Lunch

Boys in Grades 4-12 will eat lunch in the Dining Hall and other campus spaces, indoors and outdoors, every day, while boys in Grades JK-3 will eat in their classrooms or outside. Students in Grades JK-2 will either purchase lunch from the Dining Hall or bring lunch from home, per their selection earlier this year, while students in Grades 3-12 are required to purchase lunch from the Dining Hall. We have been working very closely with our partners at Flik Dining over the summer on menu options and enhancements for this year’s lunch offerings and are confident that the changes will be well received by our boys, faculty, and staff. Additional details about lunch offerings will be shared next month.

Breakfast, Dinner, and Saints’ Café

Breakfast, dinner, and the Saints’ Café will return for the 2021-22 school year! The Saints’ Café will operate for Middle School and Upper School students every school day before and after lunch periods. So that our partners at Flik may focus on a successful roll-out of lunch service and the return of the Saints’ Café, we will delay the start of breakfast service until Monday, October 4. Beginning that week, breakfast will be offered in our Dining Hall for all members of our community each school morning. Beginning Tuesday, October 5, dinner will be offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, also open to all members of our community. More information about breakfast and dinner menus and pricing will be shared in September.

Visitors on Campus

Effective Monday, September 13, we plan to return to our pre-COVID policy of welcoming parents, alumni, and community visitors on campus. All visitors to the Lower School or to Grade 6 must mask when indoors; we will determine our masking policy for visitors to other parts of the campus immediately prior to the start of school.

Please enjoy these final weeks of summer, knowing that St. Christopher’s is ready and eager to welcome your boys at the end of next month. You will receive division-specific information with back-to-school logistics on Monday, August 2. Please reach out to me or to your son’s division head with any questions you may have.

Thank you for your continued support of St. Christopher’s.

Yours,