St. Albans Return To Campus

We look forward to welcoming students and teachers back to campus for the 2021-2022 school year!

While some adjustments will be necessary, we are confident that our students will find their return to campus a joyful and inspiring experience with their peers. As always, we are fortunate to have an exceptionally dedicated and nurturing faculty, spacious campus, small class sizes, and superior technology to help us accommodate students throughout this evolving situation.

As we move forward, we are committed to the following Guiding Principles:

  • Safety and Wellbeing First
  • Extraordinary Academics
  • On-Campus Learning Preferred
  • Consistent Adaptability
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Our plan recognizes the dynamic nature of our current situation and allows us to pivot to meet the needs of our community

Our primary goal is to have students in the classroom. We agree with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics that the best place for students is to be physically present in school with their peers during this time, and we are creating the safest school environment to do so.

We will continue to review all mandated safety guidelines for onsite learning. We hold ourselves to St. Albans’ rigorous educational standards. We base our decisions on the most up-to-date information available from local, state and national resources, state education guidelines, as well as our internal expertise and knowledge base for children’s education and best practices.


Keeping our School Community Healthy

We are counting on our entire community to help ensure our school environment remains healthy. This includes the actions and interactions taking place in your home environment.

We have created a robust plan including contact tracing, symptom checking and protocols for responding to scenarios. As we return to campus, new health and safety measures will be in place.

Here is how you will be asked to help:

House

At Home

  • Teach healthy hygiene
  • Maintain preventative health practices
  • Attend to children’s emotional well-being
  • Practice social distancing
  • Practice wearing face masks
  • Self-quarantine as necessary
  • Be thoughtful regarding gathering with friends
School

On Campus

  • Increased sanitation and cleaning
  • Limitations on visitors to campus
  • Physical distancing protocols
  • Handwashing protocols
  • Face coverings
  • In-house Contact Tracing
  • Space capacity limits
  • Ongoing outreach & feedback from families

The New Student Experience


Masking

In accordance with federal and state guidelines, students will need to be masked when they are inside, but not outside. Recess, lunch, PE, outdoor instruction, or any other outdoor activity can be done without masks. *Because we feel that mask-wearing negatively impacts early reading skills, parents of students in Pre-kindergarten – 2 nd grade can opt to allow their child to wear a face shield during reading and phonics instruction if they wish.

Lunch

Ordered lunches will individually prepared, wrapped and delivered to each classroom.

Flexibility

We have planned for both in-person and distance learning scenarios, and will transition readily in response to state mandates. We do not currently offer a combined virtual/in-person option because the lessons that work best in the classroom do not translate into effective virtual work. Lecture style classes do not work for our youngest students and our hands-on learning program.

Calendar

Key Academic Dates

Back to School – August 16
First Day of School – August 18
Fall Conferences – November 9-12
Fall Break – November 22-26
Winter Break – December 17 – January 4
Spring Break – April 11 – April 18
Last Day of School – June 2

Executive Board of Directors

Our Executive Board acts as an advisory group to help examine our plans, filtering them through their own areas of expertise (including health and safety, legal, financial, educational) as well as external recommendations, and importantly, through the lens of our school’s values, and 2) ensures coherence of our plans.