St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School will return to online instruction on Monday, Jan. 11, and will resume in-person classes on Monday, Jan. 25, one week later than scheduled.
In making the announcements, Head of School Karl J. Sjolund wrote to parents and students, “Throughout this year, we have had two goals: 1) To maintain our community’s mental well-being and educational outcomes as supported by in-person learning, and 2) To keep our community physically healthy and COVID-free. To this end, our primary intent has been for in-person learning with a set of criteria guiding when it might be necessary to move to online classes.”
SAS has had numerous COVID-19 protocols in place since the beginning of the school year, including smaller class sizes, single occupancy dorm rooms, frequent testing, modified meal service, social distancing, and face coverings. Thanks to the cooperation of its students in observing all of these measures, the school was able to remain in-person with no active COVID cases among its student body for most of the first semester. The school pivoted to online classes shortly before Thanksgiving and only 10 days before the scheduled move. Boarding students were given the option to remain on campus.
A significant number of the school’s international boarding students remained in residence through the Christmas break. The remainder of the boarding students will return to campus this month.
When the students return for on-campus learning later this month, they will also be introduced to a new COVID-19 testing protocol that will include weekly rapid tests provided by the state of Tennessee combined with testing provided by the new labs at the University of the South.
“Our goal at SAS is to foster a loving and inclusive community committed to challenge, balance, and joy,” said Mr. Sjolund. “Like all of the world, we have had a bit more challenge this year than we would like, but we have found that the opportunity to be in-person has helped us to find balance and joy even in these difficult times. We look forward to gathering back together later this month.”