May 21, 2020
Dear Students and Parents,
As we approach the end of this term—a term like none other experienced at Loomis Chaffee—I want to outline where we are with our thinking for next year. While we still do not have definitive answers to the myriad questions related to whether we will be physically on campus, we have made a number of decisions about how best to prepare for what promises to be another challenging year. Our first and foremost concern for reopening the campus will be the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff. My greatest hope, one that I imagine you share with me, is that we are able to open campus in the fall for students and faculty.
The underlying realities of this pandemic are outside our control: its duration, whether it will come and go in waves, and its short- and long-term impact on the health of different populations. Also outside our control are the availability of diagnostic testing and clinical treatments; future directives from federal, state, and local governments and health agencies; travel restrictions; and the development and widespread availability of a vaccine.
What is in our control is our ability to create a plan for the 2020–21 school year that is flexible enough to respond to a wide variety of possible pandemic scenarios while ensuring that we continue to provide our students with the excellent, engaging, and transformative education for which Loomis is known. In early April, I asked Associate Head of School Webb Trenchard to lead a team of faculty and administrators tasked with planning next year's academic program. At the same time, I asked Dean of Student Life Mary Liscinsky to lead another team charged with developing plans for reopening campus. As we have throughout the pandemic, we look for guidance on these and related issues from multiple sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the state of Connecticut, the town of Windsor Health Department, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), and our peer schools.
State of Connecticut Guidelines The state of Connecticut, which closed all schools and ordered non-essential businesses to work remotely in mid-March, began planning in mid-April for the reopening of the state as the curve of infections began to flatten. Earlier this month, the Reopen Connecticut Higher Education Subcommittee, led by Yale University President Emeritus Rick Levin and Yale University former Vice-President Linda Koch Lorimer, issued a report outlining a set of gating conditions for the reopening of the state's colleges, universities, and boarding schools. Those conditions include the following:
In the report, the subcommittee emphasizes that due to the unpredictability of the pandemic, schools "should be flexible and plan for both … a full or partial physical reopening and an alternative scenario where teaching and learning continue to take place online." During the same week, Dr. Anthony Fauci testified to Congress that he believed that the reopening of schools in the fall of 2020 may well be "a bridge too far."
The Higher Education Subcommittee requires us to develop four reopening plans and file those with the state.
One key aspect of the reopening recommendations is that we monitor the density of the campus population so we can maintain appropriate social distancing measures in the classrooms, in the dining halls and social spaces, and in the dormitories. This may require us to repopulate the campus in phases. I should be clear, however, that we have not yet made a decision about exactly how we will reopen.
When students and faculty return to the Island, life on campus will be different: We will most likely require everyone to wear facemasks in public spaces; travel to and from campus and visits from family and friends will be limited; and regular testing for the virus and health monitoring will become the norm. We anticipate that large gatherings, including all school meetings and dances, will not be possible.
A Hybrid Academic Model With all of this in mind, we are currently developing a hybrid academic program that provides for both on-campus and distance learning to run concurrently throughout the year. This approach will allow us to meet the needs of students who are unable to return to campus due to travel restrictions or health concerns, to adapt quickly if the pandemic surges and we are ordered to remain closed or reclose at any point in the year, and to repopulate campus in a phased approach to lower the density of the on-campus population. We also believe that we will need to adjust our daily schedule to better accommodate this hybrid model. Accordingly, Loomis' academic task force is working on a new daily schedule that will include synchronous and asynchronous components for both online and in-person classes, which, in turn, will allow for flexibility, reasonable screen-time, and physical distancing as needed. We will share details about the new schedule in the coming weeks.
A New Calendar for 2020–21 With flexibility as a key driver in our planning, we will be adjusting next year's calendar—moving from a trimester calendar (10 weeks per term) to a six-term calendar (5 weeks per term). In these shorter terms, students will take 2-3 courses per five-week term compared to our current model of 4-5 courses per 10-week term. The shorter terms will allow us to adjust quickly to any major changes that the state may require (e.g. closing campus due to a resurgence of COVID-19); to provide a distance learning experience that allows online students to incorporate independent, project-based learning; to facilitate a less disruptive on-campus experience if we need "waves" of students to come and go to achieve the appropriate campus density; and to minimize the curricular change because the shorter terms are similar enough to our current trimester system. You may be familiar with colleges that operate on block systems—focusing students' attention on a limited number of courses over a shorter period of time. Our calendar for next year combines aspects of those college models with what we know will work for our students. If you are like me, I know a visual representation of the calendar might be helpful. Please refer to the new calendar here.
One important feature that you will notice on the calendar is that during the first two weeks of Winter Term I (December 2–15), all students will engage in distance learning. Traditionally we have had students come back from Thanksgiving Break for these two weeks and then head back home again for the winter break. This coming year we feel that it will be important to limit student and faculty travel as much as we can to protect them from unnecessary exposure to the coronavirus as well as the flu.
Although it is too soon to know what our athletics program will look like in the fall, Director of Athletics Sue Cabot and the coaches are working on contingency planning and program development. They are preparing for several possible scenarios, including the resumption of a full interscholastic athletics program, the resumption of a partial interscholastic athletics program (perhaps with modified schedules and travel), sport-specific training and practice on campus with Loomis students only, and performance training that is not sport-specific but that would help our students continue to develop and challenge themselves. We will seek to further our programming around nutrition, performance psychology, and leadership. We know that athletics competition and development are vital components for many of our students' Loomis experience and are therefore eager to do whatever is possible within the parameters that we will be facing. For all of our students and no matter the situation next year, we are committed to fostering a commitment to physical fitness and wellness.
Dining practices will have to change. We are exploring the efficacy of dividers on the dining room tables, of assigned dining times, of moving away from self-service, and of alternative dining locations. And in the dormitories, we are exploring options for creating more single rooms. In the end, physical space constraints across campus may lead to a decision to bring students back to the Island in waves.
It is still too early to make those decisions regarding life on campus, but reopening planning continues in earnest, and I look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks. In addition, we are working on plans to monitor health conditions, detect infections, and contain the spread of the disease if detected. As I am sure you will appreciate, this is a complicated puzzle to piece together and new guidance from various agencies arrives weekly. That said, I am confident in the work that we are doing and appreciate your continued patience.
Next Steps As I stated earlier, in the coming weeks, we hope to share with you more information about the hybrid academic program, including information about the daily schedule and how courses will be scheduled under the new six-term model. We are also taking another look at tuition and hope to share that information by the end of June. We will not ask families to make any tuition payments before we share this information and before you have had time to consider it and ask any questions that you might have.
While much is still up in the air regarding next year, one thing that is not is our faculty's commitment to your and your child's education. They hope to be on campus next year, but they are preparing for the possibility of teaching online, too, and of working together to employ new pedagogies that will make distance learning not only effective, but also engaging, interesting, and fun. The strength of our academic program rests on the shoulders of one of the best faculty teams that you will find anywhere in the world. They, like you, are committed to be their best selves, and the challenge of this current set of circumstances is showcasing their innovative and creative talents. We are also working on ways to thrive as a whole and inclusive community under these unique circumstances. A Loomis education is not defined by the academic program alone. We have an amazing extra- and co-curricular program and are as committed to that aspect of your and your child's experience as any other. Our current students have done an amazing job of keeping our community strong this term, and we look forward to collaborating with all of you on community life in the coming year.
I will continue to share plans for next year as they develop and invite you to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. Stay safe and stay well.
Ne cede malis.
Sheila
The Loomis Chaffee School • 4 Batchelder Road • Windsor, CT 06095 • 860.687.6000
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