Jamie's Update: Planning for Fall

Dear SGS Families,

Today, as I update you on plans at Saint George’s, I again want to express my gratitude for your flexibility and patience as we adapt to the changing circumstances related to the COVID-19 crisis. We have experienced a great disruption in the ways our community engages, and I appreciate your effort and resilience. We will have more challenges ahead, and I am confident we will continue to confront them with a spirit of unity and grace.

I encourage you to read through the updates on our weekly email sent out on Mondays for highlights still ongoing within our community.  Our social media pages are being updated almost daily with uplifting news.  

For now, I want to share more information and details about planning for this fall, that continues to be a primary focus. We are creating several task forces to begin preparation for a “Safe Campus Return.” Some faculty, staff and administrators will be asked to participate on various task forces as we begin the monumental challenge of evaluating every aspect of our campus life and putting measures in place to ensure we can bring our SGS Family safely back together. 

Our ultimate goal is that we will open—in a manner consistent with the guidance from State and County health authorities—as scheduled, with instruction beginning the week of August 31. With many unknowns, we will prepare for contingencies such as blending in-person and Distance Learning to accommodate social distancing and group size caps, and the less-desirable scenario of remote learning for the first part of the semester.

The overarching goal across all task force work is to assess the risk and establish a re-opening plan that takes into account five mitigation strategies:

- Physical Distancing
- Symptom Monitoring and Surveillance
- Public Health Interventions
- Face Coverings
- Sanitation Protocol

These strategies will be incorporated into Saint George’s planning to address everything from preparing facilities and processes for the return of students and staff to campus to how we support learning, athletics, activities, and technology needs.  Plus we anticipate the need to screen, test, and trace anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 as required by government agencies. 
We will be providing more information as the work progresses to bring us back together again. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy!

GO Dragons!

Jamie Tender
Head of School

PS – Still time to sign up for the virtual Fun Run May 16-17: 
https://runsignup.com/sgsfunrun