Also, this email just was sent from Quinn's head of school to the community - of interest for a few things - including their prep to potentially be closed for awhile - makes me wonder what is being communicated to them by state authorities:
Dear Friends School Families,
I’m writing to follow up on last week’s communication about the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are currently monitoring closely the spread of the disease and its implications for Friends School. Our main priority is to keep our students, faculty, and staff healthy and safe. As always, the well-being of our community members is the foremost consideration in all our decision-making.
In addition to this message, we have created a Coronavirus information hub with information and resources on this situation. We suggest that you bookmark this page as a central location for information as circumstances unfold.
In an attempt to be prepared for the full range of possibilities, my colleagues have worked to develop plans for continuity of learning and services should a closure of the Friends campus become necessary. While we don’t currently anticipate such a turn of events coming to pass, we are committed to continuing to provide critical services if it does. The overview of our continuity planning can be found on our Coronavirus information hub. As a preparatory measure, we suggest you ensure that your student has access to high-speed internet should virtual learning need to occur for any period of time. If access is a problem for your family, please contact your child’s Principal so that we can help to meet this need. If we foresee a closure as imminent, we will also provide students and families with a list of materials they should bring home with them.
With the approach of Spring Break and families traveling domestically and internationally, we strongly encourage you to adhere to theCDC's guidelines on travel. We will expect that any students, parents, faculty, staff and volunteers who travel to a country with a CDC Coronavirus risk of Level 3 or higher as of March 23 - currently, only China, Italy, South Korea, and Iran are in this category (or whose household members travel to such countries) will notify us of their travel and not return to school, including any school activities on or off campus, for 14 days from the date of return to the United States. During that time, each person’s health should be closely monitored. If a country to which one has travelled moves to a CDC Level 3 designation after March 23, individuals will be required to self-quarantine for the equivalent of 14 days after returning from that country. Please contact your personal physician for specific instructions regarding self-quarantine. Should your student require quarantine post-travel, we will, of course, do our best to provide remote learning and extend deadlines as necessary.
We have, after painstaking consideration, decided to cancel our school-sponsored international travel during Spring Break this year. We recognize both the importance of these trips as capstone learning experiences and the high degree of excitement with which our students and families anticipate them. As we’ve wrestled with this challenging decision, we’ve been informed by the determinations made by local and national colleges and universities (many of which - such as the University of Maryland - have cancelled school-sponsored foreign travel and have even closed study-abroad programs), the actions of our fellow independent schools, and the advice offered by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) as well as governmental organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. In addition to concerns about student and chaperone health and a desire to limit the potential spread of the Coronavirus, the fact that many countries are instituting restrictions and quarantines that could be imposed with little or no advance notice weighed heavily in our thinking. Given the unpredictable proliferation of the current outbreak and the attendant likelihood of logistical complications (such as quarantines and flight cancellations) over which we would have no control, we felt we could not allow these trips to proceed under our sponsorship. Our decision has been communicated directly to those families and students affected by it, and we will continue working with them and with the coordinating travel firms to manage the many implications and details involved.
Our school maintains a continuous education and practice of illness prevention. Our faculty are teaching and expecting our students to cover coughs and sneezes, increase frequent hand-washing, and avoid touching their mouth, nose, or eyes--all ways to stop or decrease the spread of many illnesses. In response to this particular situation, we have enhanced the frequency and intensity of our classroom cleaning regimen, adopted more stringent anti-viral cleaning products, and have posted informational materials around the school buildings reminding students and adults of the importance of following illness-prevention strategies. We will also continue to emphasize to students and adults that they should stay at home if they are feeling sick.
Please remember that students take their emotional cues from the adult community. We encourage you to monitor your child's engagement on the topic of the Coronavirus and help them understand what they are seeing and hearing to avoid undue anxiety. Being prepared is not a cause for panic or alarm. Here is one helpful article on how to talk to your child about the Coronavirus outbreak and a comic for younger children on this topic that is designed to help them process the news they’re hearing. These and other resources are linked on our Coranavirus information hub. Our counselors at each division are also available as resources for you and your children.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding any medical or health issues, feel free to reach out to our School Nurse, Lynne Anonye, and please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Principal or me with any questions relating to our policies and procedures.
As we partner with you and our greater community to meet known and unknown challenges, we are committed to keeping the channels of communication open and doing all we reasonably can to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our community. We plan to communicate regularly with you as we monitor the situation and we will post health-related updates on our Coranavirus information hub.
Thank you for entrusting your children to our care. It is truly a pleasure to be with them each day.
Sincerely,