Atrium’s Winter Plans: The Next Stages
December 10
Dear Atrium Families,
Since March I’ve written regularly to you, anticipating what’s to come and to detail Atrium’s plans moving forward. Our school community has weathered this pandemic with fortitude, flexibility and spirit. The months ahead do feel daunting: despite our strength, this is profoundly wearying.
But like each successive and ultimately successful transition we’ve pulled off since March, I’m confident that the Atrium community will continue to hold steady through the winter. Keenly devoted to safely preserving our face-to-face with remote inclusion model, I write to you today about 1) the coming Winter Vacation; 2) two important decisions about our return to school in January; and 3) possible scenarios through the winter months.
How You Spend Winter Vacation
I want to reiterate what I shared with you prior to Thanksgiving, and strongly discourage you from travelling, hosting guests, or having close contact outside your family over the coming Winter Vacation break. I feel it personally too: we don’t want to limit ourselves in these ways, but we must. At present, there are very few states designated as lower-risk, and Massachusetts requirements for quarantine upon return are the strictest to date. Lapsing in care could take a profound toll on your family’s health, and our teachers’ health. Winter Vacation may include more varied family activities, and I urge you to re-familiarize yourself with guidelines like these from the CDC or these from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Recall that recent Massachusetts contact-tracing guidelines state that a student exposed to a person positive for Covid-19 requires two-week quarantine regardless of test results. Out-of-state travel must be disclosed in daily attestations when January comes. A safer return to school in January rests upon each of our individual decisions.
The First Week of School Back, and January 4 Covid Testing at Atrium
Given public health changes that could come in the next few weeks, at Atrium we choose to face uncertain circumstances ahead proactively, rather than reactively, and take further steps to ensure community health. To protect our shared long-term goal of continuing face-to-face learning, we are taking a purposeful “strategic pause”: all Grades PreK to 8th will be remote for the first week back, January 4-8. This decision was developed in consultation with Atrium’s leadership team and several expert parent physicians; it enjoys enthusiastic support among teachers.
Families are to come to campus on Monday, January 4 for curbside pick-up of learning materials for the week.
As a supplemental safety strategy, on-campus PCR testing will be required of students and staff on January 4. Using the gentle anterior nostril swab method, this testing will be conducted by a professional, school-experienced team from AFC Urgent Care of Watertown. Laboratory results provided by the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard will be provided within 72 hours. This testing supports community health, and puts us all more at ease. Schedule details will follow as they are finalized, as well as information on how health data will be handled discreetly. This testing will be at no cost to Atrium families or staff.
Flu shots and documentation, as you know, are required for children to return to school.
Assuming it is safe to do so, it is our wholehearted goal to resume our face-to-face with remote inclusion model Monday, January 11, and we work diligently towards that goal.
To be clear: the January 4-8 remote week for all is not an extension of the Winter Vacation. The testing and curbside materials pick-up on January 4 are intentional choices, meaning that we are all at home that week, contributing to the safety of our Atrium students, families and teachers, and to public health in general.
Possible Scenarios This Winter
This plan will bring greater certainty, peace of mind, and safety for all; we now enter Winter Vacation all knowing what is going to happen in advance. The remote week also gives us a chance to practice a school-wide transition to remote teaching & learning under controlled circumstances, should further such transitions lie ahead. Beyond the planned remote week of January 4-8:
We are working hard to be back, face-to-face with remote inclusion on January 11 and to sustain that model for as long as possible.
It is possible that by January 11, public health conditions may necessitate a new kind of hybrid, or a continuation of remote learning.
One possible scenario, now more common in some schools through the pandemic, involves the face-to-face learning for younger grades while older grades learn remotely. Through the winter, we may need to flexibly “toggle” (by class/pod or as a whole school) between face-to-face and remote.
As with every stage of this year, we will make, and communicate, decisions at the appropriate time according to the circumstances.
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The school will send you further information in the coming weeks about January 4 materials pickup and testing. Before Friday December 18, your children’s teachers will also send information about the remote instruction week of January 4-8. I want to acknowledge that this remote week may make an impact on your family’s home and work schedules. Few schools have had as long and successful a stretch of in-person learning as Atrium has, and we’ve all become quite accustomed to kids being at school! Rest assured, that while perhaps counterintuitive, the planned remote week better ensures ongoing face-to-face schooling.
In closing: recently I’ve been on numerous calls with fellow heads of school, physicians, and even attended an MGH “Grand Rounds” medical Zoom about schools in the near future. Experts with the latest information and timetables not yet publicly shared are encouraged about the rate of progress they’re seeing. With vaccines close on the horizon, even the most cautious public health experts have reason to be hopeful.
And so, I can't help but also be hopeful about what’s ahead--especially with the unity, commitment and diligence of this Atrium community. Thank you, sincerely. We’re all doing a remarkable thing together, and your support for this latest planning is most appreciated.
Warmly,
Marshall