Dear Moravian Academy,
We are in full preparation for next year and we start with our vision of success. At our school, we know this goes far beyond personal achievement. To succeed means to discover passions and explore new ideas, to attempt big projects and learn from setbacks. We entered into this year with so many unknowns, but we stayed grounded by our sense of community. By leaning on and laughing with each other, we were able to succeed despite a global pandemic. This enormous achievement reinforced what we already know: that community is essential at our school.
Now, I am pleased to announce that we are beginning to restore the traditional sense of community that comes from learning, exploring, creating, and celebrating together in person. With guidance from the CDC and our local medical experts, we are taking measured steps toward enjoying some of our beloved end-of-year traditions together, such as field days, closing chapel, and graduation, while still following our health and safety guidelines. This is just the beginning of a full return to in-person instruction and community events in the 2021-22 school year.
Please read the announcements below to help you in your planning. Conditions may change that require us to be flexible with our plans, but we have set our course from here to a full reconnect in the fall.
Sincerely,
Jeff Zemsky
Head of School
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR FALL 2021
In-person Classes
We are planning to be open for in-person classes for all students in all grades on all campuses. The back-to-school season starts in August, with sports practices, orientations, family events, and an all-school picnic as well as the conference day followed by the first day of classes. See the calendar for more specifics.
Remote Instruction
We have learned a lot about remote instruction this year - the good and the not very good - and it will be a useful support next year in limited situations. Since classes are resuming fully in-person, however, we do not anticipate offering long-term remote instruction for students. This has been a necessary offering in 2020-2021, but we anticipate being able to accommodate students who need to be absent due to Covid-19-diagnoses and quarantines due to exposure with short-term, modified remote instruction. The modified remote learning will consist of asynchronous instruction with selective live sessions and will only be available for Covid-19-related absences. We will return to our pre-pandemic practices for absences due to travel, appointments, andnon-Covid illnesses.
Community Events
We are working on returning to as many of our community events as possible in 2021! Most of our events feature indoor gatherings, including our families, and we anticipate that the safety of these events will depend on factors that will ebb and flow throughout the 2021-22 school year. The factors will include Covid-19 infection rates, vaccinations, regional health data, room capacities set by available science, and the use of outdoor venues due to weather. The end of CDC updates and St. Luke’s guidance is not here yet, but we are hopeful that with their guidance we will be able to modify and hold our community events, which are integral to connecting families together.
Lunch
We are planning to return to pre-pandemic operations, including all-inclusive dining services, at the Merle-Smith and Downtown Campus, of course with modifications as needed for Covid-19 health and safety. Our contracted dining companies are working hard right now on how to restart in the Fall with updated menus, increased choices, and serving protocols.
Calendar and Weather Closures
The 2021-2022 calendar contains enough school days to meet educational goals and Pennsylvania’s requirements in addition to just 1-2 days when we might be closed for snow or other inclement weather. Families should plan for the possibility of 1-2 traditional snow days in the year, announced that morning or possibly the night before, and then should expect remote school days on the rest of the snowy days when we are not able to open campus for in-person classes and activities. The decision to close or open remotely will be made separately for each campus, allowing for local flexibility and meeting the needs of that age group of students the best way we can.
Daily Protocols
Special health practices will likely still be needed next year to limit the spread of Covid-19. We are preparing to continue personal practices like wearing masks, washing hands often, screening for symptoms, using fresh air as much as possible, and maintaining a lower capacity of people inside rooms. We anticipate that the need for contact tracing will evolve as community health needs fluctuate, so we will be ready with more restrictive cohorts if needed although we prefer to have students mix more between rooms and classes. We will evaluate these practices one by one and in consultation with medical professionals and with the guidance of CDC and the PA Department of Education.
Extended Care & Vacation Capers
We know that quality, safe, and integrated childcare is important to our families. We are working on plans to offer after-school and vacation programming again next year.
Vaccinations
We are eager to see access to safe Covid-19-vaccines be expanded to all our students and community members. These vaccines are currently under an emergency use authorization only, but we are preparing to implement any updates to Pennsylvania’s school requirements for vaccinations when/if Covid-19 is included.