|
Dear Wellington Community,
Hello and happy New Year. We look forward to the opportunities that 2022 will offer the Wellington community. We also know that 2022 will continue to offer challenges in regards to safely navigating a dynamic learning experience as Omicron tests us. We have no doubt that we will rise to the occasion, but we will need the cooperation and support of our entire community to thrive during this time.
Since we last wrote to you, we have received information regarding six confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wellington students and members of our faculty and staff, for a total of 18 cases during Winter break. With the continued rise of case numbers in the Wellington community and beyond, we are implementing additional protocols to protect our community’s health and continue to offer on-campus learning, safely:
- We ask each of you to have your eligible students vaccinated and boosted. Students who are fully vaccinated AND boosted can return to school faster after an exposure to a positive case. Per the CDC, “current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. With other variants, like Delta, vaccines have remained effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. The recent emergence of Omicron further emphasizes the importance of vaccination and boosters”.
- Everyone inside the school is required to wear a properly fit three-ply mask. When classes resume tomorrow we will begin conducting regular mask checks throughout the day to ensure that everyone is wearing their mask appropriately. Please know that any students who are non-compliant with wearing a mask over their nose and mouth may be sent home.
- We ask that anyone who has traveled, or congregated indoors with unmasked individuals outside of your household unit in the last 5 days, or anyone with a household member experiencing any Coronavirus symptoms, self-tests before returning to campus tomorrow.
- It is critical that anyone feeling ill stays home, and anyone who has had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 should inform wellness@wellington.org.
- Wellington will offer optional remote learning for the weeks of January 3rd and January 10th for families who wish to self-select for this modality. If you wish to have your child learn remotely, please let your Division Head(s) know that you will be using this option before school starts tomorrow. Please know that this two-week remote offering is more of an observation of the classes through Microsoft Teams, than the dynamic learning from home experience we provided last year. We are unable to turn around materials and supplies in this time frame, but hope that this will help smooth out the transition back to on-campus learning. This two-week timeframe may allow for students ages 12-16 to receive a booster shot, as boosters are expected to be released for this age range during this time.
- We have rearranged classrooms and learning spaces today to maximize distancing.
- We are either canceling, rescheduling, or conducting remotely all field trips or external visitors scheduled for the month of January. This includes the 1st grade swim program, though we hope to reschedule this for later in the school year. We will also find a later date to host the 4th grade parents for their play performance.
- The only spectators that will be allowed on-campus for athletic events this week are parents of senior athletes attending home games. We will shift the Wellington Youth Basketball Leagues schedule forward by two weeks.
The pandemic is again challenging us with a time of rapid change. We appreciate your partnership and flexibility as we meet this challenge with rapid responses, and we look forward to being together, safely, in the New Year.
Sincerely,
The Wellington COVID-19 Task Force
Danielle Goldfarb, school nurse
Lindsey Smith, chief operating officer/director of athletics
Laurie Beth Sweeney, chief experience officer/director of development |
