If I understand correctly, your child is already accepted to these colleges so what are the consequences at her BS if she misses more days than they allow? Would they really hold back her diploma? In general, I am a rule follower but in this case, I would be pushing back on their policy. So frustrating that they even put you in this position… ugh
3 Likes
PA overturned the mask mandate in mid-December, but so far both my kids are at boarding schools in PA that still require them. Really hope that can change after spring break. I don’t see either one ditching masks during the month of February.
Despite the masks and testing, both schools have allowed kids to travel off campus for visits, long weekends etc. My 10th grader is a day student but the boarders at his school have been able to travel as freely as they wish.
1 Like
No college visits during Sophomore or Junior years due to COVID….I would say our kids have a few more days in the “bank”. I am sure that I am not the only parent taking issue with this policy for the Class of 22. Please let me know if your schools pull this c# (stuff).
T’was the week before Revisit
To college this time
Kiddo requests days off
You’d think all would be fine?
Not at Deerfield you see
There are rules one must follow
Unless your a lax guy
Shut up and just swallow!
Your pride, that is 
In case you don’t know
Just because you got in
Doesn’t mean you can go!
There is a limit you see
Only 5 days to tour
Is the school your best fit?
Or does it belong in the sewer?
The Seniors got shafted
From Covid and more
Been restricted in living
No wonder they’re sore!
Does it really matter
If you miss 6 days, not five?
Where’s your school mission
That you want students to thrive?
If you stick by your rules
And don’t support this class
You’ll see that your donations
When alums, they will pass! 
3 Likes
Awesome poem - you have such talent! My son’s school also sets limits to days excused for college visits BUT… he is only a freshman and we hope he does not have all the COVID limitations you have experienced. I have seen how much leeway day students and athletes looking to play in college seem to get so while I am fine following the rules if we can visit colleges during scheduled breaks etc. I would have no issue challenging the rules if my son was in your child’s situation.
2 Likes
Thanks for the support @lindquik !
What the school also doesn’t realize is that travel is very different in the post-pandemic world. The options are limited for flights and trains. Try getting a flight Boston to San Jose (hypothetically), flight from Manchester NH to Austin TX, or travel from Hartford down to Richmond (hypothetically) - flights are limited and very expensive. It’s hard to get a flight in the evening (after school) for many of these cities - especially with connections or if you need to drive to your college destination.
Now many colleges (for the first time in 2 years) are having in-person Revisit days or accepted students days. For one school my kiddo was accepted to, there are specific revisit events for EA students. If you can’t make it, you can go on the waiting list for the RD students’ revisit weekend events - but spaces are limited do to safety-health concerns related to COVID.
IMHO schools need to review some of their policies that must be aligned with the post-COVID or transitioning through COVID world.
5 Likes
I’m with @417WHB and @lindquik on this. I’d be as diplomatic about it as possible, but I would definitely take my child to visit the schools offering admission.
5 Likes
MA just announced that they’re removing the mask mandate for schools on 2/28. I wonder which BS will follow…
I’m thinking a lot of schools won’t touch it until after spring break.
And then probably have a two week masking period after spring break…
And don’t forget the testing! @cityran do you have another kid in the cycle this year or was it last year?
Yep. There will definitely be more testing. I am hopeful kiddo1 will go mask free at some point this year, but also would not be the least bit surprised if it doesn’t happen. And yes, we are anxiously awaiting March 10th decisions, and really hoping for revisit days!
2 Likes
Good luck. I am so glad to have that behind us but I am feeling I jumped for the frying pan straight into the fire with my '22.
I think this is a very reasonable time to push for an exception to the usual policy. Not much about this class of seniors’ tenure at their schools as been normal, so why should the schools refuse to adapt to unusual times for this one thing? College decisions are (with the possible exception of going off to BS) the biggest decision most of these young adults have made; it’s a worthy use of their valuable time.
I can definitely understand where having a lot of missed days in these last two trimesters can have a big impact. Maybe you could work with some other seniors and their parents to come up with a proposal or two… what if there were one or two designated Fridays for these seniors to take additional visits? That way teachers could plan around having seniors gone instead of it just being random. It would also be reasonable to set conditions - all grades have to be in good standing, these are for seniors who haven’t committed to a school, these days are exclusively for visits to schools they’ve been admitted to or waitlisted at, etc. If a parent or student has a faculty member who might be sympathetic they could weigh in on the proposal.
P.S. College visits are one of the few times I found Saturday classes to be a true negative. Raise a glass in sympathy to your fellow senior parents & their kids at schools where “weekends” are about 28 hours long.
1 Like
So hard! Particularly since so many schools don’t run tours on weekends, specially Sundays.
1 Like
Kiddo brought home the DA scroll paper over Long Winter Weekend for me to read. Much of the content was regarding masks, testing, and the crazy DA covid numbers. The official line from HOS on the weekly FYI email a couple of weeks ago was ‘a slight uptick’ in covid cases.
The student run paper had the official figures:
- 299 positive student cases since November 18th
- 115 cases during week commencing Jan 23rd!
The administration admit that they expect that a significant number of students had probably also had covid but were asymptomatic and therefore weren’t included in the above figures.
With numbers like those, I’d expect DA to be on the early edge of schools removing masks. There’s barely anyone left who hasn’t had it.
1 Like
Interesting. Lawrenceville’s newspaper, The Lawrence, rarely ever touches covid-related topics.
Do these include cases over break? Those numbers are crazy. The most student cases we’ve ever had in a week was 23 (Jan 10-17), and in the three weeks since then the numbers have been 5, 5, and 1, respectively; that’s been with asymptomatic surveillance testing. Does DA have looser mask guidelines or something?
I’d definitely go to those accepted student events. These were extremely valuable for my kid - much more than the generic visits which youcouldn’tdo. I’m really sympathetic to the schools in general when it comes to wanting to limit voluntary absences but this is a different beast. And a lot rides on it.
1 Like
I don’t think that it often touches covid topics, but the situation on campus was so dire that it was overwhelming (plus the administration wasn’t exactly being transparent about the numbers). School had filled up the beds at the local inn (which is practically on campus) and were busing kids to another more remote hotel.
And yes, those include numbers over the break. Apparently 80 kids tested positive immediately prior to return to campus after winter break.
Week of 23rd (sun to sat) the daily numbers were: 5, 13, 43, 31, 2, 11, 10. A total of 115
It was apparently heavily attributed to some rowdy, well-attended hockey games over the 22nd/23rd weekend where masks were supposed to be worn, but in reality it wasn’t enforced.
And my prediction of DA being on the leading edge of schools unmasking wasn’t incorrect.
I had a text from my kid this morning:
Apparently we are unmasking. Today is the first day.
2 Likes
I believe yes. In a family newsletter recently they gave those numbers and it said something like 80+ cases were caught by the return from Christmas testing.
Just noticed the reply above…. My kiddo continues to send me pics of her twice weekly Covid test results. She’s been a close contact weekly since January. But (knock on wood) continues to test negative.
Oh my. I’m shocked that DA didn’t clamp down and introduce more restrictions; I’m sure that Lawrenceville would have done so under the same circumstances (given its very cautious approach to covid in general). At that point, I don’t know if I’d be willing to attend in-person school.