Andover is Broken

Prep School Admissions
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Pointing out that both CDC and Duke pieces linked here seem to focus on transmission in the classroom in a typical day, which is of course not what Andover is dealing with. I think, if I understand correctly, the stumbling block issue at Andover is not having enough residential faculty/staff. Residential living introduces different variables. A couple quick examples: the impossibility of keeping clean cohorts under 20 people, and keeping cohorts from intersecting (a key success factor in the CDC piece). Also, the obvious: being with your students around the clock is a very different level of exposure. Living with people is not the same as being in a classroom behind plexiglass and wearing a mask.

So the battle cry to follow science is hard because you have the find the science that applies to your situation, and sometimes we can easily make (incorrect) assumptions about which differentiating factors are critical and which aren’t. If a rural school in Wisconsin manages to keep covid from spreading using certain very specific protocols, does that mean Andover can get everyone to move back to their dorms? Seems to be a bit of a scientific leap. (That said, I am clearly not a scientist, so I might be wrong.)

It’s a messy, hard situation for sure. These situations are nuanced, and complex, and, frankly, along unpaved paths. I don’t envy any HOS right now.
(Or mayors of small towns. because they are not always really qualified for this kind of decision making.)

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I remember over 90% of DA’s faculty lives on campus. Must be a huge advantage in this situation.

Some of PA’s faculty lives on campus too. Sounds like a much smaller number.

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Per the Andover website, 90+ percent of faculty live on campus in apartments in the dorms.

Challenging times call for innovative solutions. Having kids learn distantly for more than a year is not a viable solution for a myriad of reasons. As pointed out above, the school has ample resources to implement safe solutions. Boarding schools, colleges and universities have been effectively and safely operating residential education since August. Top of the list of Andover’s resources: the new HOS (and his spouse) who are both physicians and health experts. Andover: it is time to bring ALL grades back for the ENTIRE spring term.

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The Fall trimester showed pretty clearly how successful dorm pods - including adults - could be at PA.

Editing to clarify that this comments is in response to @Calliemomofgirls pointing out above what the Duke study does and does not specifically cover. The study covers classroom transmission and how it’s not high risk when precautions are taken, as she observes.

What I highlight about the Fall experience is that in terms of Covid transmission in residence halls - ie what the Duke study doesn’t cover - is something we have direct first hand knowledge of and experience with. The Fall was incredibly successful in this regard. There were zero cluster spreads from/in any dorms, despite the (still very low) handful of cases on campus.

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@DroidsLookingFor
Agree with the sentiment. But I think you and I might have different ideas about “how successful” the dorm pod experience was. I do think your experience as a day family sounded better than ours as boarding family. (And I am fully willing to believe that other boarders had more successful trimesters than we did.). I appreciated them trying though.

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I am a recent Andover alum and I have a lot of problems with the administration. However, I find the need to defend my alma mater on this.

To start, you say that the Andover’s on-campus experience was highly successful. For the most part, it was. Yet, there were positive cases on campus this fall. While few, they did pose danger to the campus community. With the growing case count in the country and the town of Andover’s upgrade to high alert, the possibility of more cases popping up if the full student body return is high. Andover also has a much larger student body than other prep schools, which makes keeping campus safe more difficult and weakens possible comparisons to other prep schools. On top of that, students were tested biweekly and sometimes triweekly. With a population of 1100 students and over a hundred on campus, this means that well over 2000 test kits would be used per week. These tests cost the administration lots of money and limit testing results for outside people who may need it more. The Andover community is incredibly privileged and it is a shame that this post ignores that.

What disturbs me most about this post is the utter disregard for the lives of faculty. Although I do not know what has and hasn’t been communicated to the parents, even as an alum, I heard of this faculty contract deal from a current student in the faculty contracts months ago and I find it makes sense. Many of Andover’s faculty is elderly and we cannot know how many are or live with someone who is immunocompromised. I would argue that this is in fact the administration caring about its community.
You also say that all these decisions are being driven by emotion, yet many emotions are driven by science. The world is highly volatile right now and it appears the administration is aware of the gravity of their decisions. The vagueness is unfortunate, but is a product of the times. The people at Andover are highly intelligent; I have no doubt that the decisions made have thought out and chosen carefully.

Andover as an institution has the right to be criticized. It can be elitist, uncommunicative and unsupportive, but to call it broken for the reasons you are in this post is foolish. There is no winning in academia right now. I myself am attending a university that has chosen to go fully online for the year and I mourn the loss of my college experience and grieve for my peers who do not get the full Andover experience. But I am also aware that there is a global pandemic going on and if there is anything I learned from my four years at PA, it is to put others above yourself. If you claim to love Andover as much as you do, why can you not do the same?

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I think what often gets lost in these conversations @calliemomofgirls is the “compared to what?” question. Compared to normal times, the Fall was maybe somewhere between a 2 and 3 on a 10 point scale. This winter, when everyone is off campus and remote “learning” 100% of the time is a -6,452 on that same 10 point scale IMO. The mental health crisis has gotten orders of magnitude worse and my somewhat informed read of the tea leaves is that we’re on the logarithmic part of the ride at this point. Every day/week/month that this continues, things don’t get somewhat worse for the kids. They get way way worse. Breaking points for many have long since been reached and surpassed.

Anecdote alert: my kids had 4 other day student friends over today. It was the first time they spent any meaningful time with anyone from outside of our household in a long time. They were masked the entire time, as they were when indoors at PA this Fall (unlike boarders who podded together I might add). The sounds I heard
the joy, the squeaks and squeals, the cathartic laughter, and simultaneously the normalcy of it all was both music to my ears and completely heartbreaking.

@banananas when speaking of the success of the Fall, it was regarding the overall covid test results, which were not only objectively extremely low, but orders of magnitude lower than the results for the town of Andover itself as well as Essex County. Of course there were “some” cases - if your threshold for “safe” is zero cases then guess what? Neither you nor anyone else will ever go back to anything approximating normalcy, ever. Literally.

Further, the town of Andover today lowered it’s risk designation level (https://andoverma.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=350). They did not raise it.

As for PA’s cost for testing, that’s universal to all institutions, whether educational or corporate. It’s reality. Also, it’s a sunk cost. PA has already paid for and secured tens of thousands of tests (and has an on site lab in Sykes). It also has the largest endowment of any peer school, so relatively speaking it’s a drop in the bucket. And trust me that the development team hasn’t been shy about asking for donations this year.

Also, PA is not “much larger” than PEA. And only somewhat larger than Choate. Both of which have similar % of day students. PA is also a fraction of the size of most LACs. This continued attempt to hold out PA as somehow meaningfully different in the covid context really needs to stop. It’s just not, sorry.

Finally, when you admit that “I do not know what has and hasn’t been communicated to the parents, even as an alum” then that undercuts everything else you’re saying. Did you read the CDC guidance about returning to school? The Duke study? Any of the current, relevant science?

It sounds like you had a phenomenal experience at PA. Pardon me and others here for wanting the same for our kids.

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Thank you for correcting me on some of my points. I had checked the status of the town of Andover recently, but was not aware of its downgrade, which is very exciting. I mentioned the cases this fall to show that Andover was not a covid-free utopia and there were possibilities for flaws. I do in fact agree it was quite successful.

I am not surprised in the slightest about Andover asking for donations and trust me, I’ve gotten emails asking me to donate. I do believe Andover should be held in the same regard as other institutions. I mentioned the size of the school as a comparison and a side that hadn’t been mentioned. I’m very glad that Andover is using its large endowment for good use. The cost very likely is not a burden; I am more concerned by the resources depleted from nearby communities, but will do more research on this. I have in fact read scientific articles and the CDC guidelines and have heard updates about what is happening at Andover as many of it is public information, but I do not receive the exact wording of the parental emails. I do not believe this takes away my right to an opinion.

I myself despise remote learning and know many others feel the same. I would also like to clarify that I would not consider my Andover experience to be absolutely amazing. I had many struggles there and as I say, Andover deserves to be critiqued for many reasons. I hope your child does well there.

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What has been suggested by any poster (let alone “this post”) that demonstrates any (let alone “utter”) disregard for the lives of faculty? i.e. What has anyone suggested that would lead to an incremental increase in the probability of contracting COVID for PA faculty members that do not belong to a vulnerable population?

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This is exactly the problem @Altras . It’s a straw man being tossed out, often breathlessly and always without direct evidence, that obfuscates the facts at hand regarding the science.

Teachers should be in classrooms with students ≠ we do not value and cherish faculty lives.

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Our local public high school has approximately 5,000 students (not a typo), so nearly five times the size of Andover’s student body. It has been on a “hybrid” system, whereby the student body alternates days physically in school and days in school remotely from home, in order to limit density. Though there have been hundreds of diagnosed COVID cases among students, they have been quickly isolated and student contacts quarantined. To my knowledge (and I think I would have heard), no faculty or staff have died or been in severe jeopardy from exposure to the students.

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Here’s some more re: practices from universities which are orders of magnitude larger than PA, even more porous, and even more integrated into their immediate community surroundings.

The TL;DR (I know The Atlantic is sometimes behind a paywall): massive/frequent testing and contact tracing works, and makes being a member of these school communities safer than not. Reminder: by the end of Fall, boarders at PA were tested 2x/week and day students were tested 3x/week.

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@DroidsLookingFor - Valid points for sure. Thanks for attaching The Atlantic piece (which allows a few free articles for non-subscribers FYI for fellow non-subscribers). It’s an interesting read about the best practices that drove their reduced rates. Key seems to be in the testing, quick tracing and isolation. I’d be curious how the density of a community figures into whether the “tight bubble” model is more effective versus the “our community is too big” – 87k students in the IU Atlantic case and “20 year olds will still gather” background. In The Atlantic piece, there is a link to another article – UC Davis, where they actually expanded their “community” to include the entire town. I recommend reading.

I’m seeing 3 main approaches with some positive results: “minimal contact day schools” and then “tight smaller residential bubble” and “larger – 80k – community with quick tracing.”

In a larger community like these, quick tracing seems to be the primary success factor. But “quick” means within 24 hours of testing (if I understand the articles correctly), and within, say, 3-4 days of potentially being contagious (assuming 2X/week testing they mentioned). In a community of 80k, there may be an element of community dilution that minimizes the cases that come from a 3-4 day lag.

In a tighter, denser community of, say, 1500 people, that 3-4 day lag would, I’m guessing, infect more effectively (for the virus I mean), as the exposure would theoretically be higher in these much closer quarters. Add in porous day student population for another layer of complexity – enough to bring germs in, but perhaps not open enough to dilute the population/intensity of exposure?

Which then has me wondering:
Could any of these models of potential success could be replicated at Andover?

Or -
Is Andover too big and porous to be a tight bubble (like smaller schools can manage)?
Too residential to follow successful the “day school” models (CDC article, Duke article)?
And too small/intensive to follow successful the IU/Davis models (Atlantic article)?

And the answer is I don’t know.
(If true experts are stumped, then certainly I am ill-placed to suggest any wisdom here.)

Maybe Andover is getting it wrong.
Or maybe Andover is wisely understanding that they cannot follow these same protocols and expect similar results because the communities differ in key ways that are critical to success.

Either way, certainly open communication can be had at all times, even when things are uncertain. (and especially in uncertainty!). Frustrating that it’s not happening for sure.

While I agree with you @DroidsLookingFor I think making a year-long agreement that didn’t allow for an evolving landscape was probably a mistake. Still, until there is a vaccine, or at least a compelling plan to protect anyone who felt unsafe living/teaching on campus, I support giving people the decision to be remote this spring. I simply know too many people who were young (-ish – 40’s/50’s), healthy and are now dead. Gone. No known health issues that would have identified them as vulnerable. The idea that anyone could accurately identify who they are ahead of time and just make sure that they have the option to stay home while everyone else is forced back on campus is not really feasible, from where I sit.

Looking ahead to next fall, I am optimistic about vaccines being widespread enough that many of these hard questions will be moot.
But, what if they aren’t? (what if mutations make vaccine ineffective, or we simply still haven’t managed to get distribution under control?)
I mean at a certain point, if this risk is our new normal, then we will have to adjust, do our best to mitigate risks. Life cannot stop forever of course – too many costs. The question is: is now the time to “accept the risk and move on?” We will not agree on the answer here. I would say not yet. We are THISCLOSE to a vaccinated population.

I’m reading everyone’s thoughts with interest, and I appreciate how much I am getting to learn from your perspectives.

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It appears that the Andover administration has given faculty the option to decide whether or not to take the risk, and a number of the faculty has chosen not to take it. You’re welcome to disagree with their opinions, but I don’t think it will get you anywhere.

We heard similar complaints last spring/summer from parents of college kids. Residential colleges “had to” allow students on campus for in person classes and any employee who didn’t want to return should quit, retire, or (as suggested upthread) be fired. Forcing people to choose between their livelihoods and their health (or that of their loved ones) shows a callous disregard for their health and well being. Families who truly treasured faculty lives wouldn’t try to force them into such a position.

I believe it’s true that we have a mental health crisis among our young people. It’s affecting all of them, not just the limited number who have the luxury of attending a residential school. I don’t know where people get the idea that sending young people away to school is a treatment for anxiety and depression. It wasn’t before COVID and it’s not now. If your student is struggling please contact their primary physician and get a referral to a counselor.

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What I don’t get is why this has devolved into faculty vs. family/child on this forum. For those looking at it that way, you are misguided. Speaking for our family (and I am sure for many others), we ADORE the faculty and staff at Andover. We respect them and honor their lives and would never wish sickness upon them. My gosh, we entrusted our most precious and deeply loved child to their care when this child was 14 years old!

What I believe the folks who actually have some skin in the game here (not just passer-bys) are saying is that they would like the admin to come up with solutions that respect the mental and physical health and safety of the entire school. No one has suggested that teachers be forced into the classroom. What has been suggested is that the school seek volunteers among existing staff (and hire additional willing staff, if necessary) to staff dormitories and other necessary locations. If teachers are willing, they can teach in person. If not, allow the students to gather in a classroom or under a tent and have the teacher zoom in. As evidenced by Andover’s peer schools, this is doable.

And btw, if you knew ANYTHING about Andover students, you would know that the huge majority of families do not “send their young people away as a treatment for anxiety or depression” or for any other reason. Rather, they “allow” their highly motivated, deeply intelligent, mature and kind children the chance to receive a top-notch education from amazing faculty and in the company of other incredible kids. An easy choice it was not, yet one that most of us would make again. These kids do not need a referral to a counselor as you suggest; they need to be around people their own age and not attend school (for more than a year) from their bedrooms or basements.

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Just because other employers are forcing people back, doesn’t mean Andover needs to.

The school promised these teachers they wouldn’t have to teach this year in person. A commitment made in the name of caution and safety, during a deadly, unpredictable pandemic of a novel virus. A commitment made when the county Andover is located in was one of the hardest hit nationwide, and still tops the list. They need to honor that commitment.

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@Calliemomofgirls I honestly just don’t understanding the persistent searching for ways that PA is somehow unique - when it comes to covid protocols and the ability to successfully and safely implement them, as PA did in the Fall - when considering size, composition, open/closed, day/boarding, faculty on/off campus, close/far from urban area, clustered densely/less densely in the surrounding town, etc, etc, etc. Especially now when combined with the findings and CDC recommendations about in-classroom spread risk. There are of course infinite variations of these qualities, but these are ultimately distinctions without a difference.

@austinmshauri yes PA did give faculty that choice, and for the entire academic year. The problem is no one explicitly told this to parents at the time. Worse, when you frame the choice as “forcing people to choose between their livelihoods and their health” you’re not only flying in the face of the latest science you’re creating a straw man and false choice based on what we know today (as distinct from, say, Mar/Apr/May of 2020). That’s called spreading FUD.

You know whose lives I cherish in addition to faculty? The worker at the meat packing plant who ensures a steady supply of food. The person at the super market who puts the food on the shelves. The person who stands at the cash register so I can buy the food. The mailman who brings me my mail each day, along with the UPS and Fedex delivery people and the various warehouse and other retail workers who get goods packaged, shipped, and delivered to me. The prep cooks, front of house staff, dishwashers, and chefs who go to work so that my family can order take out. The first responders who are out in about in patrol cars, ambulances, and firetrucks. The front line medical workers who tested me for covid 4x this past year whenever I was symptomatic (all negative, fortunately). Are their lives any less cherished to you? Do you fight for their right to stay home and not do their jobs while still getting paid? (To be clear: teachers working remotely are not doing their jobs in my view and my experience based on the degree to which my kids are and aren’t learning over zoom, though I would happily compromise at letting them zoom in while kids gather - that’s how dire things have gotten).

“I don’t know where people get the idea that sending young people away to school is a treatment for anxiety and depression.” Sorry, not taking that bait. That’s another straw man and I never said or implied anything of the sort. Again, you’re missing the simple question: compared to what? Being a part of a community, in person - even masked and socially distant - is better for mental health than being on zoom all day. That’s the comparison. Full stop.

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If you read the science you’ll see that being part of a community where there is ample and frequent testing, contact tracing and isolation, social distancing and masking, abundant PPE, etc, make those teachers who live on campus as you point out safer than if they didn’t live on campus.

@Thinker123 well said. We too have leaned-in fully to PA. Our love for the people and place cannot be overstated, similarly as evidenced by the fact that our two kids attend (and, for those of you who know me outside the confines of CC, you know too that our commitment extends far beyond even that). But for some reason the “faculty vs. family/child” straw man keeps getting thrown out. It’s a shame.

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Do people spend 3+ hours a day in grocery stores, doctor offices, and butcher shops? No. These are not accurate comparisons.

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Do students beyond 5th grade spend more than 45 - 60 minutes in a given classroom? No they don’t. And yes that’s exactly parallel to a typical visit to a grocer, doctor, or butcher. And by the way, the workers in these places do spend 8 - 12 hours there working their shifts.

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