COVID-19 Info

List of 3 items.

• August 6, 2020 Communication

  Dear TJ Families, 

  
  

  We are grateful for the patience you have shown as we think through the myriad and complex details of planning for the 2020-2021 school year. Your feedback has been central to this work, and your encouragement has buoyed us during this process. From the start, it has been our firm desire to reopen in person and to provide a virtual learning option for students who cannot come to campus or who are not yet comfortable with being in person. We have also committed to following the guidance of local and national public-health experts. 

  
  

  As of this writing, current conditions in St. Louis suggest that if school began as planned on August 26, we would be compelled to do so remotely. For this reason, we have decided to move our start date to Wednesday, September 9. In addition to gaining two weeks to monitor for a much hoped-for reduction in community spread, this decision allows us to use the time between August 26 and September 8 to set ourselves and our students up for the greatest success once classes begin. 

  
  

  The faculty will have two weeks dedicated to additional training and professional development for teaching in a multi-modal environment. In addition, they will be planning online social and orientation activities between August 31 and September 4 that allow new and returning students to generate an all-important sense of community and an understanding of expectations for the new learning environments they face. 

  
  

  Current local conditions have also compelled us to make the hardest decision of all: to suspend the boarding program through the end of the first quarter (boarders returning on Saturday, October 17th). Given that local conditions will remain in flux and that public-health officials may therefore mandate remote learning, we must best position ourselves to make nimble transitions between all-remote and in-person/hybrid learning. Planning for a single “repopulation” date on October 17th will not only give time for local and national conditions to stabilize (since boarding students must travel through various airport hubs around the country), it affords the school the opportunity to conduct efficient group testing, mitigates a number of risks associated with travel, and allows for the school to develop a chaperoned third-country arrival for a significant portion our international community as necessitated by the government-imposed travel restrictions. Visas for arrival to the U.S. will not be negatively impacted by this adjustment; all necessary modifications will be handled by the school.

  
  

  One calendar adjustment, of course, necessitates others. Once boarders return, the campus will remain open through graduation in order to eliminate the need for travel and to provide a safe environment for residential students during breaks. Winter break will be shortened to two weeks (December 19-January 5), and spring break to one week (March 22-29), allowing us to move graduation to the weekend of May 21. This new calendar preserves the same number of instructional days.

  
  

  Together we will continue to navigate the strangeness of this unprecedented year. Our highest priority is always to give our students the best academic experience with as much personal support as possible; every decision will continue to be made with the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff in mind. Linked below, please find a rough draft of the modified academic calendar, an updated refund policy, answers to frequently asked questions about insurance for international students, and a link to data and trends from the St. Louis County Department of Public Health.

  
  

  We understand that you may have additional questions, and we encourage you to continue to reach out to the faculty and staff. I will be resuming weekly virtual office hours (weekly on Tuesdays at 8:00 a.m. CDT) as of August 11, 2020 and encourage your participation.

  
  

  Revised calendar of major dates for the 2020-21 academic year (as of August 6, 2020)

  Refund Policy for COVID Related Closures

  Insurance questions for international students 

  St. Louis Department of Public Health COVID-19 website

  
  

  Sincerely,

  Matthew R. Troutman, Ph.D.

  Head of School

  mtroutman@tjs.org

• July 30, 2020 Communication

  This afternoon, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health issued a formal recommendation (linked below) that all St. Louis County schools begin the year in “as virtual of an environment as possible to protect students, staff, and families.” Throughout the planning process, we have consistently adhered to guidance from both local officials and national agencies. We have built our plans to allow for moving flexibly between remote and in-person learning, as local conditions dictate, and this recommendation requires just the kind of flexibility we anticipated. 

  
  

  Tomorrow afternoon, independent school leaders will join a call with representatives from the Department of Public Health to get further clarification. Next week, we will share an update regarding the start of the school year.  

  
  

  The statement from our County Department of Public Health reminds us that taking actions, as individuals and as a community, to protect our collective health and safety will be an ongoing commitment. Since March, the TJ community has lived consistently with inconsistency—but each challenge has proven the patience, adaptability, and empathy of our community. We will do this together.

   

  Sincerely,
  
  Matthew R. Troutman, Ph.D.
  Head of School
  mtroutman@tjs.org

  Letter to St. Louis County School Leaders.07.30.2020 (1)

• July 20, 2020 Communication

  Dear TJ Family,

  
  

  Today I am writing to share our planning document for fall of 2020. While preparation for the new school year continues apace, we still face a number of uncertainties due to the current public health crisis. The CDC and St. Louis County Department of Health continue to modify recommendations as circumstances evolve. The ambiguity of our local and national situation requires us to design a reopening program that allows us to respond to the changing guidelines while still serving our educational purpose: to create rich and robust learning experiences for our purposefully-sized, close-knit school community. 

  
  

  We had, of course, hoped to be definitive here about whether we intend to begin classes in person or online, but the situation has not allowed that. What we can be definitive about is that the schedule we have developed will allow us to move nimbly between in-person and online learning no matter what the outside world does. We anticipate that students will need to move between in-person, online, and a hybrid model of instruction at different points throughout the year, depending on the specific needs of students and families. 

  
  

  The planning document (linked here as well as published to MyTJS) provides an overview of the academic program as well as operational policies and procedures necessary for resuming in-person instruction. This is a living document and updates will be made and shared as circumstances necessitate. Please look for a subsequent communication on Monday, August 3, two weeks from today, with additional information.

  
  

  Before I close, I want to thank all members of our TJ family. The faculty and staff have worked in a continual state of adjustment, response, planning, and preparation since March. Their critical thinking and creativity will be central to the success of this school year. The parent body has followed us into the unknown and supported TJ’s young scholars as they grappled with the seismic shift in their lives. Finally, our students have responded in ways unimaginable. They have innovated, again and again, and they will continue to challenge—and to teach—their teachers. Without all of these efforts, TJ would not be the vibrant community that nourishes us all.

  
  

  Whether we share a room or a screen next month, no principle guides us more strongly than our desire to engage students in daily dialogue about ideas that will lead them—as our mission states—to lift up the world with beauty and intellect. In the meantime, we thank you all again for your patience, your support, and your partnership.

  
  

  Onward together,

  
  

  Matthew R. Troutman

  Head of School

  mtroutman@tjs.org

  TJ Plans for Re-Opening 2020-2021 (1)