September 18, 2020

Dear Frederick Gunn School Families,

We’ve had a great first week of school, both for those students here on campus and those joining us remotely. Students have done a great job so far adjusting to our new policies and procedures, including maintaining physical distancing, and they are getting better every day. They even produced a short video to express why they wear a mask and shared it at School Meeting.

As we indicated in our Campus Reopening Plan, we are going to be administering COVID PCR tests to all members of our community who are on campus on Monday. Every employee and student has been assigned a 15-minute time slot and will go to the Upper Gym, where a team from Hartford Healthcare will be administering testing. The screening is conducted via a nasal swab and takes just a few seconds to complete. If students’ testing times conflict with a class or co-curricular, they will be excused by their teacher or coach. Students should return to their class or co-curricular program once they have completed their test.

Testing is mandatory and students who do not participate for any reason may be asked to return home or to their guardian’s home until they can be tested and provide proof of a negative test result to the Health Center.

While turnaround times can vary, we expect test results will be available from Hartford Healthcare within three to five days and will be shared with you and our Health Center. All results will be kept confidential.

While we are confident in the health and safety protocols we have in place, we are preparing for the possibility that we will learn of one or more positive test results next week. In addition to making you aware of the testing, we are writing to remind you of possible outcomes of this testing. Specifically:

If your child has a positive test result, you will be contacted directly by a physician from Hartford Healthcare and by our Health Center. Your student will remain in an isolation space on campus and will need to be picked up within 12 hours. Your student also will need to continue following the protocols for isolation at home.
In the event of a positive result, the school will adhere to its policies and procedures for quarantine and isolation and will initiate contact tracing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus.
If, through contract tracing, your child is determined to meet the conditions of a “close contact,” as defined by the CDC, they will need to quarantine for 14 days. You will be contacted by the school with this information. While students can complete a quarantine on campus, we strongly recommend that you pick them up so that they can complete this period in the comfort of your home. Note that by definition, members of a residential cohort will almost certainly be considered a close contact and require quarantine.

It is important to stress that this testing was included in our Campus Reopening Plan in accordance with guidelines developed by the State of Connecticut. Testing is not being conducted at this time in response to an incident on campus, and we greatly appreciate the positive, cooperative and supportive spirit in which students and faculty are complying with all of our new procedures. This is a challenging time, and it will take all of us working together to keep everyone safe. Please reach out to Mary Ewing, RN, Director of Health Services, at healthdept@frederickgunn.org if you have any questions or concerns. This and other recent communications from the school can also be found in the Back-to-School Guide on our website under “Recent Communications to Frederick Gunn Community.”

Sincerely,

Peter Becker

Head of School