11-28-2020
Dear Caprock Academy Families,
I hope you have all had a restful break and will enjoy the last couple days of the weekend!
As many of you know, we have had several cases of COVID 19 amongst our school population both in students and staff. Over the course of this week, numbers in both of those groups have increased, some as a result of exposure at school and some as a result of community exposure outside of school.
To be fully transparent, Caprock Academy will be labeled an outbreak site this Monday, the 30th, if the Health Department is caught up on their contact tracing. Currently we have had 17 staff members and 13 students through the entire K-12 population test positive over the course of the last three weeks, most of whom were tested this past week and a half. The majority of these cases have been in the 6-12 population and the office staff, but our community should know that there has been at least one case in nearly every grade level of the school (all direct contacts the school is aware of have been already been notified).
In order to appropriately respond to these circumstances, we will be transitioning the entire K-12 population to remote learning on Monday, November 30th. We will bring the students back according to a staggered schedule, with Middle School and High School returning as previously planned.
K-5 will be remote learning Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and will come back to in-person learning on Thursday, December 3rd.
6-8 will be remote learning next week and will return to in-person learning on Monday, December 7th.
9-12 will be remote learning through Wednesday, December 8th and will return to in-person learning on Thursday, December 9th.
We truly believe that this will help preserve the final two weeks of the quarter for the K-5 population much the same way as the older populations staying out for the rest of the week.
Our reasoning behind why we staggered the start for each school population:
Elementary aged children contract and spread the virus much less than their older counterparts. By waiting until Thursday, our staff are all past their quarantine periods and so are most of the few positive students. This is also 14 days since our early release the Thursday before break.
Middle school has had multiple positive cases in all grades, both students and staff. Several staff and students are quarantined through the end of next week.
High school contracts and spreads the virus much like adults. By holding them out until December 9th, we are past the exposure they may have had over break, preserving the final week and a half of the quarter for in-person learning.
In addition, several members of the office staff and administration have tested positive or been directly exposed, and administrative staff will be shorthanded through the beginning of next week.
Your classroom teachers should be contacting you with expectations for the remote days. If you are in need of a laptop computer or a wireless hotspot, please let your teacher know so that we can make a plan to disburse them.
As I have stated before, our goal is to have the students safely in person as much as possible. We feel that bringing them back on Monday does not fulfill the "safe" aspect of that goal, but by holding them out a couple of days, we will still preserve and maximize our final days of Quarter 2. We know that this places a hardship on families (many of us are also trying to figure out work schedules while our own children are remote learning), especially for the younger populations and higher needs students. I will continue to express appreciation for all of you while we continue to make our way forward.
I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to COVID free days ahead! I'm not sure when they will be, but I am sure that we will make it!
All the best,
Andrew Collins
Head of School
