StC News

A Message from the Headmaster

Update on Plans for 2020-2021
July 9, 2020

Dear Parents, 
 
I hope you are doing well and enjoying the beginning of the summer months. Over the past several weeks, as our commonwealth has moved into Phase II and now into Phase III, we have slowly and carefully started to welcome a limited number of students back to campus for small-group meetings and athletic practices. It is wonderful to have the boys and their energy back, albeit in limited numbers. I eagerly await late August, when campus will be bustling once again! 
 
We continue to make excellent progress on return-to-school preparations, thanks to outstanding work completed by our School Readiness Task Force, listed below. Today I would like to share a few updates with you, as well as offer a short survey, which will be critical in assisting us as we finalize plans. The link for the survey is at the bottom of this message, and we ask that every family complete this survey for each enrolled student no later than Friday, July 17. Thank you in advance for providing your feedback. 
 
As previously communicated, we are planning for a full, in-person return to school for all boys in Grades JK-12. We expect all students will be with us on campus five days per week, with a fairly typical academic schedule, one that allows time for health screenings upon arrival to school, as well as for additional health and safety measures throughout the day. With a safe return as our priority, please know that the first several weeks of school will look and feel different than the rest of the fall semester. Screening and health mitigation strategies will be more stringent in the first several weeks, as we establish the baseline health of our school community and become accustomed to having all of our students and staff back on campus. 
 
Even with precautions that all of our families will be taking in the weeks leading up to the start of school, we need to do everything we can to establish the healthiest environment for all as we return to campus. 
 
To that end, I ask that over the remainder of the summer weeks, but particularly in the weeks immediately preceding our return to campus in late August, we all do our part to contain the spread of COVID-19 by remaining vigilant with social distancing and wearing masks when in proximity of others, to the greatest extent possible. 
 
New procedures you can expect for the first several weeks of school, and perhaps beyond it, include: 
 
  • Every student and employee will be expected to perform a daily health screen before coming to school each day. Temperature screenings will be conducted every morning before allowing a boy to enter campus until we have established a healthy baseline.
  • In addition to maintaining physical distancing of six feet to the greatest extent possible in all of our classrooms for all of our divisions, every boy in Grades 3-12 and every employee will be wearing face coverings for at least the first three weeks of school, as a recommended risk mitigation measure by both the CDC and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). The School will provide two face coverings for each boy and employee. Students in Grades JK-2 will not be required to wear face coverings but may do so if their parents choose. 
  • We will be strictly limiting visitors on campus, including parents and other members of the community. This is a particularly difficult measure for us, as part of what makes St. Christopher’s so special is the abundance of parents and other volunteers who are on campus on any given day. Please know that this measure is temporary, and we hope to return to an open campus later in the school year, once we know that our community’s health and safety can be maintained.
  • Frequent cleaning and robust disinfection protocols will be followed throughout the school day. We have significantly increased our daytime professional cleaning staff to assist in this effort, along with nightly deep cleaning of classroom spaces. Sanitizing stations will also be present at every entry point and in all common-use areas. Boys will avoid sharing objects when possible, with cleaning in between use if sharing is unavoidable.  
  • We will be adjusting the use of the dining hall and servery areas to offer lunch in a manner consistent with CDC and VDH guidance. We are currently working with our dining service provider, Flik Dining, to offer a rotation of boy-friendly and healthy entrees packaged and delivered per health and safety standards that will be available for all grade levels. For the 2020-2021 school year only, we will also allow boys to opt out of the lunch program on a semester basis and bring lunch from home. Guidelines will be provided later this summer for families who plan to bring in their own nut-free lunches from home. Breakfast, dinner, and Saints’ Café snacks will not be offered as the school year begins but may be added at a later date.
  • We are working diligently to determine plans for all of our co-curricular activities, including athletics, performing arts, and student clubs. We hope to offer these to the greatest extent possible within the risk-mitigation guidelines in place and with the goal of keeping our community healthy and safe—more details to come as plans are finalized in the next month.  
 
Finally, we realize that there will be boys or families who are not yet comfortable being on campus, even with all of the above risk-mitigation measures. We are committed to offering distance learning, to the greatest extent possible, throughout the year. If you have a medical or other circumstance that would prevent you from sending your child to school, please be sure to indicate that on the survey, below. Your child’s division head or other appropriate School personnel will reach out to you before the beginning of school to discuss your situation. 
 
We will be providing many more details about what the start of school will look like by the end of July. We deeply appreciate your partnership and support. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, Dr. Ann Vanichkachorn, or any member of the School Readiness Task Force team listed below. 
 
Please complete the return-to-campus and lunch preference survey here. Please complete one survey for each enrolled child by July 17.
 
Yours,
 
Mason Lecky
Headmaster 
 

School Readiness Task Force

Mr. Ed Cowell (Chair), Director of Community & Inclusion
Ms. Sharon Dion, Director of Communications
Dr. Warren Hunter, Head of Middle School 
Mr. Mason Lecky, Headmaster
Dr. Sarah Mansfield, Interim Head of Lower School/Assistant Head of School 
Mr. David Reynolds, CFO/COO
Mr. Tony Szymendera, Head of Upper School
Dr. Ann Vanichkachorn, Director of Health Services
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