December 18, 2020

Dear Parents,

First, I want to wish you and your family the very best for the coming holidays and for a bright, healthy, and happy new year. I know we are all looking forward to the hope of a new year. To be sure, though, the first few months of the new year will continue to be challenging as we wage our battle against this pandemic.

Secondly, on behalf of the faculty, I want to convey how impressed we have been by the quality and thoroughness of the work that your sons have done during this Wintersession. The projects were creative, dynamic, and, hopefully, enjoyable. We were pleased to offer this approach to teaching and learning during this short period in the School's calendar.

As we look to the coming winter months, our undivided attention has been directed toward how to maximize the health and safety of this community while also delivering an educational product that is the most productive and meaningful for our students and for you as parents. As I have said many times, the most effective teaching and learning happens in a community where the energy of interpersonal relationships is created and nurtured. This energy can be replicated in a remote learning environment, but it is not as fully efficacious as learning in person. Moreover, social interaction and growth during adolescence is a critical component of the larger developmental process of adolescence. Finding the right avenue that maximizes both safety and the efficacy of the learning and growth experience for our students has always been the primary navigational beacon for Trinity-Pawling School.

As the School prepares for the second half of the academic year, our focus is directed towards the delivery of our educational commitment in ways that effectively manage the risks of social interaction in this pandemic until the vaccine is widely available. With this in mind, I wanted to share the School's current plans for the next eight weeks at Trinity-Pawling School. These plans have been adjusted from what was communicated in the fall, and these changes have been necessitated by the spread of COVID-19 throughout the nation. Specifically, the School has sought to take measures that will significantly reduce the traffic to and from campus in order to minimize the opportunity for viral spread.

I will also add that these plans, like the crisis itself, are fluid. As conditions change, they will be adjusted accordingly. However, for the immediate future, this will be our protocol for reopening the campus in January.

To ensure that enough time elapses between the New Year and the return of students to the campus, our return date has been moved back one week. Students will be scheduled to return by dormitory units on Saturday, January 16th, and Sunday, January 17th.
- January 16th Returners: Residents of East, Dunbar North and South, Hastings North and South, Owen House, Johnson Hall, and Cluett III North and South Dormitories
- January 17th Returners: Residents of Starr Hall, Barstow, and Cluett II North and South Dormitories
Students returning to campus for the Winter Term must return on the scheduled date of either January 16th or January 17th.
In early January, those planning to return to the campus on either January 16th or January 17th will receive instructions for the specific time to return to campus on the scheduled date. Day Students who will have elected to board on campus for the Winter Term will receive notification of their dormitory assignment at that time.
Classes will be held remotely January 11th-15th, using the normal academic schedule.
All students must return to campus with a negative COVID PCR test, taken within seven days of their return to campus.
- Students should observe quarantine standards at home from the time they are tested until their return to campus.
With the exception of the Middle School Students, all Day Students will be given the opportunity to live on campus from January 16th-17th until Spring Vacation commences on March 5th. This accommodation is being made in order to limit the traffic to and from the campus each day and to maximize the effectiveness of our residential testing procedures.
- Day Students may either choose to live on campus in a dormitory room OR may choose to learn remotely through Friday, March 5th by completing and submitting this FORM by Monday, December 28th.
- Middle School Day Students may come to campus to attend classes but must observe home quarantines when they are not on campus. Upper School Day Students must either live on campus until Spring Vacation or attend classes remotely.
- For those Day Students choosing to live on campus, there will be a fee of $275 to cover the cost of additional meals during the Winter Term.
All students residing on campus will remain on campus until the Spring Vacation commences on Friday, March 5th.
As previously communicated, the Founders League has cancelled interscholastic league competition for the Winter Term. The School continues to plan for athletic practices, a wellness program, and a strength and conditioning program as we did during the Fall Term. If conditions allow, the School will consider adding some interscholastic competition during the winter season under specific health-related conditions. It is premature, however, to say that interscholastic games will occur. We will continue to keep an open mind on this matter.
All campus residents will receive a COVID PCR test shortly after their return to campus and will be quarantined in their dormitory unit until the test results are available.
All boarding students and other campus residents will be given a weekly COVID PCR test during the months of January and February.
Because of the frequency of this testing strategy and the costs associated with it, there will be a flat $300 fee for the complete weekly regimen of PCR testing done on campus during January and February.
Any student with a positive COVID-19 test will be asked to return home or to the home of their guardian until it is deemed safe for him to return to campus.

I realize that these adjustments to our COVID-19 plan represent a change of direction from how the School operated in the Fall Term. Unfortunately, the highly dynamic conditions of the pandemic has forced these changes, and they have been created out of an abundance of caution for the safety and health of the students and everyone living on campus while also working to optimize the learning experience for our students. If the conditions pertaining to COVID-19 warrant a reconsideration of these plans, then this will be done and any changes will be communicated to you in a prompt manner.

Should you have any questions, please submit them using this FORM to facilitate a timely response.

Thank you for your support of Trinity-Pawling and for your understanding of our efforts to continue to provide a meaningful learning experience in ways that best manage the health and safety of the larger community.

In Community,