Update to Academy Families — November 13, 2020

Dear St. Johnsbury Academy Families,

This week went quickly and fairly uneventfully at the Academy—of course our region is a bit on edge right now about a rise in COVID cases, so I will briefly play a broken record and urge all to be extra careful about our precautions. We will keep you abreast of any relevant updates here at school, as I detailed in last week’s letter. A couple of brief updates:

1. Testing—The state of Vermont is providing schools with enough COVID tests for all of our faculty and staff to be tested. We will receive those next week, and will offer them to all employees at that time. Any results from those tests would likely arrive the following week. I mention this because folks should be prepared to hear about some cases at that time—and my hope is that if that should happen we will all continue to show the respect, support, and good sense that has so far won the day. Should we need to act, we will let you know in a timely way—but it’s safe to assume that we are simply getting good information that will help us keep campus healthy.

2. Interim grades—Next week we’ll be putting interim grades up on the Parent Portal, and we would like to ask that you go there to check those, along with any narratives that teachers may provide if your student is struggling. We will send an email with the portal link once the grades are up, but you will need to visit the portal in order to see the grade report.

3. Thanksgiving—Break begins Wednesday, 11/25, and we return Monday 11/30. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: please stay close to home over the break, strictly limit guests, and follow all the quarantine rules.

The news this week that there may be a coronavirus vaccine in the offing might help us to feel more resolute about making these choices to stay apart—knowing that this is not going to last forever. I know it does that for me. In the meantime, let’s remember how fortunate we are to be together, and feel a measure of pride in the fact that we’re able to stay that way for now.

Please always feel free to be in touch with questions to the COVID Response Team email: CovidResponseTeam@stjacademy.org. or to me directly at showell@stjacademy.org. And remember to look at the St. Johnsbury Academy website for stories about our students and their accomplishments, news, up to date information, and school calendars.

Gratefully,

Dr. Sharon Howell

Headmaster