Coronavirus Update
Greenhill Families, As the news and information about COVID-19 continues to evolve, we are continuing to monitor the presence of the virus in North Texas. The health and safety of our families and faculty is our top priority, and we are maintaining close contact with our local health department to determine how to prepare for and manage any possible instances of coronavirus within our community. We wanted to share some additional information with you prior to spring break starting. Thank you for reading this information carefully. PREPARATIONS BEFORE SPRING BREAK
Per the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s recommendation, Greenhill faculty, staff, and administrators are continuing to prepare for a potential school closure. At this time, while there is one presumptive positive case in Dallas County and three presumptive positive cases in Collin County, Dallas County Health and Human Services is not recommending widespread school closures. However, given the rapidly changing nature of the spread of the virus, we are preparing for a scenario in which we could start a school closure before, during, or immediately following spring break. Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking all students and faculty members to take home materials that they might need at home in case we need to start remote learning after spring break. On Friday, March 13, or earlier, if needed: PLAN FOR REMOTE LEARNING
Greenhill’s Pandemic Preparedness Plan, which you may read here, includes an overview of our plan for online learning during a school closure. Our top priorities during a closure would be to continue to advance learning and maintain a sense of community. We would like to draw your attention to a few highlights of our remote learning plans; we will send more detailed information to you in the event of a closure. As I shared with our faculty members this week, a shift to remote learning would challenge all of us to work in new ways. Our faculty are already thinking about how they will teach their material in the event of a school closure. Students will have to engage in new ways as well. We also know that in the event of a closure, students may have some challenges that will make it difficult to learn. Some older students may need to help take care of younger siblings. Other students may have challenges with the format of remote learning. Our goal is to continue the learning process, but also to make our students feel confident in what they are learning. We will all be operating with patience, grace, and flexibility as we strive to support each other during a closure. If you have specific questions about remote learning for your child, please contact the child’s homeroom teacher or advisor. STUDENT SUPPORT
If we do close, student support services will continue to be available to our students. Counselors, learning specialists, and college counselors will proactively reach out to students with whom they regularly work for the duration of the closure. We also recognize that during these dynamic times, families may encounter several challenges. Continued communication is critical to ensure that we can support you and your students in the best way possible. Please continue to reach out to your student’s counselor, advisor, home room teacher, or division head if you need assistance. CANCELLATIONS
During the spring season, Greenhill is hosting several events on campus, and our students are scheduled to participate in events both on and off campus. Given the amount of work and planning that goes into these events, and our desire to keep our students safe, our administrative team is carefully considering the cancelling or postponing of individual events as the need arises. They are considering several factors, including the guidance of the local health department and the CDC, as well as the impact on the student educational experience. UPCOMING TRAVEL
As we shared previously, the CDC has issued guidance that requests that travelers self-quarantine for fourteen days at home when returning to the US from areas with widespread, ongoing community spread (Level 3 travel health notice countries: currently China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea.) In addition, this week, the CDC has announced that they are asking cruise ship passengers to monitor their health for fourteen days after the cruise and to self-quarantine if a case of COVID-19 is reported on the ship. You may read more about travel guidance from the CDC here. If your spring break travel plans include an "Alert Level 2 or 3" location or a cruise, we ask that you reconsider your plans. In addition, we urge you to consider the potential risk of any travel during these uncertain times. We would also ask that our families follow all CDC travel guidance to help reduce the spread of infection within our community. At this time, neither the health department nor the CDC has recommended limiting domestic travel, and as a result we are evaluating the cancellation of school-sponsored trips on a case-by-case basis. For instance, some of you may already be aware that ISAS has cancelled the ISAS Fine Arts Festival that was to be held in early April. If a trip is cancelled, then the participants will hear directly from the trip sponsor. We have started listing cancellations on our coronavirus website. Please continue to monitor that page in the weeks to come. Greenhill will continue to monitor information about the coronavirus outbreak as we prepare for the potential spread of the virus in our community. The situation is continually evolving, and our positions on cancellations, travel, or other areas of the school may change at any time based on guidance from the health department and CDC. Thank you for your flexibility and continued commitment to keeping our community safe. If you have any questions, please send a message to ghinformation@greenhill.org. Sincerely, Lee J. Hark
Head of School
Back
Per the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s recommendation, Greenhill faculty, staff, and administrators are continuing to prepare for a potential school closure. At this time, while there is one presumptive positive case in Dallas County and three presumptive positive cases in Collin County, Dallas County Health and Human Services is not recommending widespread school closures. However, given the rapidly changing nature of the spread of the virus, we are preparing for a scenario in which we could start a school closure before, during, or immediately following spring break.
- Preschool and Lower School students will be sent home with manipulatives, binders, extended learning packets, book bags, and other resources in backpacks. If Greenhill does not close over break, simply leave the materials unused in the bags and return the unused materials to school on Tuesday, March 24.
- Middle and Upper School students should plan to take home laptops, chargers, books, calculators, musical instruments, sports equipment, and other materials when they leave campus.
Greenhill’s Pandemic Preparedness Plan, which you may read here, includes an overview of our plan for online learning during a school closure. Our top priorities during a closure would be to continue to advance learning and maintain a sense of community. We would like to draw your attention to a few highlights of our remote learning plans; we will send more detailed information to you in the event of a closure.
- The first two days of the closure will be preparation days for faculty members. Middle and Upper School Students should use those days to finish up any assignments they may be behind on and to set up a workspace at home if one does not already exist.
- For Preschool and Lower School students, communication will be primarily via email to the parents. Families will be provided with (or reminded of) usernames and passwords for educational tools like IXL, MackinVIA, and Seesaw to use with their students.
- For Middle and Upper School students, Canvas will be the primary tool for accessing student learning, and faculty members will be taking attendance at various points during the week.
- Middle School will will operate under a modified class schedule, during which teachers will engage in both synchronous and asynchronous class interactions.
- Upper School will follow the same letter days and class periods, and faculty members will be using both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities during those times.
- Our coronavirus website will include a quick links section with online resources for our students and families.
If we do close, student support services will continue to be available to our students. Counselors, learning specialists, and college counselors will proactively reach out to students with whom they regularly work for the duration of the closure.
During the spring season, Greenhill is hosting several events on campus, and our students are scheduled to participate in events both on and off campus. Given the amount of work and planning that goes into these events, and our desire to keep our students safe, our administrative team is carefully considering the cancelling or postponing of individual events as the need arises. They are considering several factors, including the guidance of the local health department and the CDC, as well as the impact on the student educational experience.
As we shared previously, the CDC has issued guidance that requests that travelers self-quarantine for fourteen days at home when returning to the US from areas with widespread, ongoing community spread (Level 3 travel health notice countries: currently China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea.) In addition, this week, the CDC has announced that they are asking cruise ship passengers to monitor their health for fourteen days after the cruise and to self-quarantine if a case of COVID-19 is reported on the ship. You may read more about travel guidance from the CDC here.
Head of School
Greenhill School
A coed independent day school for prekindergarten – Grade 12
4141 Spring Valley Rd. | Addison, TX 75001 | (972) 628-5400
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