Dear WSNO Family,
In light of the current local data reflecting the community-wide COVID-19 positivity rate, our Board, Faculty, and Administration have elected to postpone the opening date for the 2020-21 school year to August 17. This was a difficult decision, one we made with careful consideration of current health data of our community. We realize many of you were eagerly anticipating the start of school on August 3 and may feel disappointed. We do not take your feelings lightly, but given the current public health metrics, we felt that delaying our start date is the optimal, safest, and most responsible choice.
City leaders and health officials tell us that the level of community spread is currently high, and we feel that we cannot at this point safely reopen school with in-person learning. We feel a sense of responsibility to protect public health as well as the health and safety of our students, families, faculty, staff, and community. We want to be good neighbors and responsible members of our diverse city.
We will be watching trends closely between now and August 10 and make a decision about whether to begin in-person on August 17. We are prepared to utilize remote learning plans if necessary, at that point. As always, any family can opt into remote learning if that is a better fit for their comfort level.
Our original start date of August 3 was always contingent upon safe and sustainable metrics regarding community spread. We foresaw that there would be times throughout this pandemic when we would have to make the difficult decision to keep our doors closed. Our flexible calendar was designed to help us face times of closure while still maximizing time spent learning in person. While we are using two weeks to make a more informed decision about how to proceed, our updated start date of August 17 is in alignment with most of our fellow private schools throughout the metro area.
We value your input. Your perspective is important to us, which is why we have put together a short survey (deadline July 31 - please fill out once per child enrolled, per household) created to gauge your comfort level and gather your thoughts surrounding our reopening plans. We will also be inviting you to join us for a Q & A session via Zoom to share the details of our reopening plans with you. Please watch your inbox and Bloomz alerts for further details.
Thank you for your patience, support, and most importantly, your flexibility. You are an integral part of our school community. We value you and are committed to creating a safe and healthy learning environment for your child. As the world is facing difficult challenges, we are grateful to know that we are in this together.
In Partnership,
Joseph Peychaud
Head of School