Posted before they got to athletics (which is a non-issue for kiddo, but I know it’s important to a lot of students):
Athletics/co-curriculars expected to return to normal (with the exception of masks indoors for sports other than swimming/water polo)
Club activities still a viable option, but may require additional surveillance testing.
Was there any discussion about Parents weekend?
It will be a hybrid mix of in person and zoom meetings. I am overall very happy with Lville’s plan - sounds like everything will just about be back to normal - except for indoor masking during competition. There was no masking of kids during competition in NJ last year (Lville did keep masks on kids, however) and other BS’s plans don’t include masking during competition but, as usual, Lville is on the ultra-conservative side. (How ironic!) 
If anyone wants to see the plans in detail, they’re up on the Lawrenceville website: https://www.lawrenceville.org/life-at-lawrenceville/leadership/school-operations/reopening
(The webinar’s audio appears to be broken if you attempt to watch it on a computer, but works fine on mobile). Anyways, this sort of approach seems to be the one most schools will probably take.
We received an email update last night. Hoping for a “normal” school year, according to HOS. Also, planning for full athletics schedule this Fall. Everyone is expected to have had their vaccination. Parents can help students move in. Regular dining without restrictions. No routine COVID testing for those who have had a vaccine. There will be optional testing available. At this time, it seems the students will not be required to wear masks in class. No travel restrictions at this time (so that’s good for club team participation).
Anyone hearing from the JBS’s?
New rules for Hill. All students regardless of vaccination status, must provide a negative PCR test within the last 2-4 days of arrival, and will be tested upon arrival as well. Masking indoors for all students and families during arrival and orientation. Unvaccinated students will continue to be constantly tested. Unvaccinated day students are not permitted in dorms and have very limited access. First two weeks of school are pretty much masked everywhere indoors unless you’re in your actual dorm room. Must be masked in common rooms.
We are still waiting to see if the school year will hold mask mandates throughout the year. We have only gotten guidance on the first 2 weeks + orientation.
@lilyesh are vaccinations required?
yes except for medical and religious exemptions.
Groton. Vaccinations required. No exemptions. Masks inside. Struggling with this combo of rules and worried it will simply get more restrictive as the fall progresses.
My son is worried sports will go next.
Could be worse. My alma mater sent out an email to alumni stating that the athletic department needed coaches for the following sports - and then listed every fall sport… LOL. I went to a school not exactly known for sports.
We have not received anything yet, I assume they are still trying to figure things out. I suspect the indoor masking will be a state rule anyway so no way around it, but if they tank sports and/or lock down campus again it will be a disaster of epic proportions as they were promising left and right how things would be back to normal in the fall. And yes vaccinations are mandatory.
I really don’t think they will lock down boarding school campuses. Given mandatory vaccinations, I think a worst case scenario is masks in the classrooms and masks at indoor sports, and possibly outdoors as well.
I really hope they don’t banish parents from campus - should be pretty simple. Parents required to wear masks and aren’t allowed on campus without proof of double vaccination.
If it returns to last year’s conditions despite vaccinations - well, there will be an earthquake of a parental uprising.
Every morning when I check my inbox I brace for “the email” containing some combination of bad news and going back on commitments made. Last time around the pattern was good/ok news early, bad news late. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the email arrived on September 1 or thereabouts.
That said, the longer they wait, the more time there is for things to turn around (as the UK and India did with their Delta flares).
I will not envy the administration, board, or development folks should they go back on commitments. A disaster of epic proportions and an earthquake of parental uprising indeed.
I very much wish there was time to turn things around. But the timing is terrible, as schools are about to start again and the under 12 set cannot be vaccinated, which even with masks is likely to fuel the numbers (if by nothing else by more testing). UK had the luck of having the school year finish during the surge, which certainly contributed to numbers starting to head back down. The only big positive is that the rising Delta numbers seem to have jump started vaccinations again, plus more places are now mandating them (or very frequent testing), so more people will have at least some protection.
This is my greatest fear, i.e. the thing I think will be used to justify any number of restrictive measures. Faculty with kids under 12 may clamor for the restrictions. The question is how will the administrations react?
I was just looking at the delta timelines for UK and India, thinking the US is likely about half way through this wave (I am neither a statistician nor a physician, just naively looking at trends). But you’re correct, the timing could not be worse with schools starting again, and I suspect that will cause a significant spike in our numbers. I am guessing BSs will end up taking a more conservative approach than they are letting on right now, but hopefully by October we will see improvement.
Even my most reluctant friends/acquaintances are finally coming around to getting the vaccine, which is also a great step toward ending this. And, of course, if we could get that 5-12 vaccine approved soon, that would be really helpful.
I’m also aware that kiddo’s school board and administration got a lot of heat over the strict rules last year, and suspect they are walking a very fine line this year.
This has been on my mind as well…but I’m not sure if faculty will continue to be as nervous as they were last year, or if they’re “over” all the restrictions as well. Based on kiddo’s experience, even the most concerned faculty members started to turn a blind eye at the end of the school year.
If you look at the acceleration rates of cases and deaths here in the US, the rate of increase is already starting to slow down. So, still increasing, but more slowly. I do understand the various societal/timing dynamics at play, but in the UK and India it wasn’t long after that happened, i.e. that the rates of growth slowed, that they began to reverse and then fall precipitously. Anyway, we’ll see.
Agreed about vaccinations. The silver lining is the modest uptick in vax rates. I do think that “full approval” will spur another wave of vaccinations, as will of course the under-12 approval. Unfortunately the timing there is uncertain at best. We keep hearing “weeks” for full approval for example, starting weeks ago.
Hopefully you are correct re: faculty being as ‘over it’ as everyone else.
Dropped kiddo off today, so protocols are on my mind. Any updates?
Cate is trying to get as back to normal as possible. Indoor masking is required by the county, so it is at Cate until that changes. That rule does not apply to your dorm. There is regular monitoring and weekly testing. Vaccines are required, though exceptions are considered. They are a closed campus for a bit, but then rules are back to normal.
Groton is continuing to go over the deep end. Parents will be allowed on campus to watch games or attend parents weekend, but only if they are vaccinated. At the same time, parents will not be allowed to help their kids move into dorms…despite the fact that the headmaster has basically mandated parental vaccination.
The headmaster has started unilaterally making all decisions, there is no advisory board to speak of. He sent a friend an email last week that said he is not interested in any kind of feedback from anyone even if it is reasonable and rational. Any leader who says he is not open to any kind of critique is a terrible leader, I just cannot see any acceptable justification.