We have concluded a three-week period during which there has been but one confirmed COVID-19 case in our community, resulting in one elementary classroom quarantining. The low incidence and impact are very encouraging. Also, during the past month, two thirds of our faculty and staff have voluntarily received vaccines, with more signed up. Aside from inevitable quarantines, our in-school-5-day-a-week commitment has been consistent now for six months. We are so, so grateful to our families for courage, dedication, and boatloads of patience.
Questions are arising about how developments in Minnesota COVID policies may open up some additional opportunities at PA this spring. We are monitoring these developments closely, and are thinking through the “art of the possible” in a variety of ways. Academic and co-curricular award events will be possible, if event protocols are workable, because they are specifically associated with educational purposes. Certain concerts and performances may become possible, with limitations on live theater attendance and the number of participants on stage. Last week, we sent a “save the date” of a Gala event May 1 that entailed some ambiguity about format; such is the nature of planning these days!
There remains an overall institutional limit on events that excludes more than 250 people on campus at one time. (The school day’s student and teacher capacity is not governed by this.) That is currently a hard-and-fast rule that governs our current creativity.
Next Monday, I hope to offer more specifics about how PA will plan to expand activities under current guidance. These will be subject to change, of course, like everything this year. But my hope is that those changes will be for the better!