July 27, 2021
Dear Loomis Chaffee families,
I write to you from the Island on a beautiful July day after what seems like weeks of rain. This wonderful weather mirrors how we are feeling about this upcoming school year! It will be great to have students on the Island for a year that will be much closer to normal.
As you know, Loomis Chaffee is requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for all students, faculty, and staff. If you have not already done so it is important that you upload a copy of your student's vaccination card through Magnus by August 1 (the deadline for all Health Center required information) or that you communicate with the Health Center about the timeline for your child's vaccination. Requests for exemptions must be submitted to the Health Center by August 1. Medical exemption requests must be supported by medical documentation; religious exemption requests must already be on file consistent with state of Connecticut guidelines.
For the safety of the campus community, students who are not fully vaccinated upon arrival will need to engage in some mitigation strategies which we anticipate will include masking, social distancing, restrictions on dorm visitation and housing, and biweekly testing until full vaccination status is attained (two weeks after the final vaccine dose is administered). These students also must arrive with a negative PCR test administered no earlier than 48 hours prior to arrival to campus.
For those arriving from destinations outside the United States and who are not fully vaccinated, we are following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and requiring a seven-day quarantine before arriving to campus with a viral test 3–5 days into the quarantine (International Travel During COVID-19 | CDC). Families with students in this situation are responsible for making appropriate off-campus quarantine arrangements.
If you are considering having a vaccine administered outside of the United States, the vaccine must be approved by the World Health Organization and both doses should be given before arrival in the U.S. as the vaccines administered in other countries may not be available here. IMPORTANT: In the U.S. students under 18 years of age can only receive the Pfizer vaccine.
In a few weeks I will write again with more information about the opening days of school. In the meantime, thank you for all you are doing to partner with us as we get ready for the 2021–22 academic year.
Take good care,
Mary Liscinsky
The Loomis Chaffee School • 4 Batchelder Road • Windsor, CT 06095 • 860.687.6000
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