Commitment to Safety
March 18, 2022
Dear Parents and Students,
I hope this email finds your family happy and healthy as we approach the last quarter of the school year. We look forward to making memories with your children as we gain some normalcy with spring events. We discontinued the current mask requirement in chapel on Friday, March 18, 2022. We are thrilled to be together and are grateful for all who weathered this storm with us!
Every action we take is centered around our shared goal of learning in person for the duration of the school year. At this time, we have ceased all contact tracing, in alignment with the CDC recommendations.
As we partner to ensure the health and safety of every member of our community, we ask that you please keep your child home if he/she presents with any, even mild, symptoms. We will continue to post COVID data on the COVID Dashboard in the weekly newsletter. We are grateful for your cooperation and are thankful you have chosen to share your children with us. Please call or email Tabetha Sullens at 931-389-5772 / tsullens@webbschool.com or Risa Brown at 931-428-7594 / rbrown@webbschool.com with any questions or concerns.
January 3, 2022
Dear Webb Community,
Happy New Year! I hope this email finds your family happy and healthy. We look forward to seeing your children in classes on Wednesday, January 5. As you know, positive Covid cases have been remarkably low on campus for the last two years. We recognize that concerns regarding the Omicron variant continue to rise. In the abundance of caution, we strongly encourage the use of masks indoors until we weather the Omicron variant, to mitigate the risk of transmission on campus. While we are not requiring masks indoors all the time, there are moments, such as chapel gatherings and the dining hall, when we do require masks. So, please make sure your child brings two or more masks to school each day. In the event that we encounter an outbreak on campus, we will respond swiftly and will likely require masks for a period of time.
Every action we take is centered around our shared goal of learning in person for the duration of the school year. In the event students or faculty/staff test positive, we plan to contact trace students in close proximity for more than 15 minutes. We will mask all close contacts and test them all on day 5 (anyone who develops symptoms before this will be tested as soon as symptoms start). If negative, students may continue in class with a mask until day 7, after which they can be mask-optional if no symptoms have developed. If positive, we will send the student home to begin a 5-day quarantine. If, on the 5th day, the student has been fever-free for 24 hours and their symptoms are resolving, they may return to school on the sixth day. We ask that the student wear a mask for 5 more days. For our residential students, we will move them to quarantine spaces or they may return home for the quarantine period.
As we partner together to ensure the health and safety of every member of our community, we ask that you please keep your child home if he/she presents with any, even mild, symptoms. We will continue to post Covid data on the Covid Dashboard in the weekly newsletter. We are grateful for your cooperation and are thankful you have chosen to share your children with us. Please call or email Tabetha Sullens at 931-389-5772 / tsullens@webbschool.com or Risa Brown at 931-428-7594 / rbrown@webbschool.com with any questions or concerns.
Respectfully yours,
Tabetha Sullens, Ed.D., ‘94
Assistant Head for Student Affairs
August 12, 2021
Dear Webb Community,
Welcome to the 152nd school year at The Webb School. We are thrilled that you made a commitment to join our community! The Webb School’s innovative Safe Start 2020 plan allowed us to enjoy a full year of safe, in-person learning. Positive Covid-19 cases were remarkably low, and none required hospitalization. One year later, we are indeed in a better place as a school and nation, but concerns regarding the Delta Variant continue to rise. As we prepare to begin the new school year, we are carefully monitoring the national conversation surrounding the rise of Covid-19 cases. Should these developments lead to changes in local, state, or federal requirements, Webb is prepared to respond swiftly.
Our number one goal is to safely deliver a Webb education in-person this school year. Toward that end and per CDC and AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), we highly encourage vaccinations. For those who are not yet vaccinated, we are offering vaccinations during orientation on Saturday, August 14, from 8:00-11:00 a.m. Similarly, we will have onsite Covid testing available at our Health Center this year. In the event that your child should require testing on the 5th day, post-exposure, or testing for symptoms of illness, the Health Center will notify you to discuss this in detail. Should you agree to have the Health Center test your child, a $20 fee per test will be charged to their student account.
In the abundance of caution and considering we have a record enrollment within our global community (made up of students from seventeen states and twenty-three countries), together with the recommendations of our health care professionals, our leadership team, the AAP, and the CDC, we strongly encourage the use of masks indoors to mitigate the risk of transmission while on campus and not able to properly distance. While we are not requiring masks indoors all the time, there will be moments, such as chapel gatherings, when we will require masks. So, please make sure your child brings two or more masks to school each day. In the event that we encounter an outbreak on campus, we will respond swiftly and will likely require masks for a period of time.
Every action we take is centered around our shared goal of learning in-person for the duration of the school year. In the event students or faculty/staff test positive, we plan to contact trace students in close proximity for more than 15 minutes. We will mask all close contacts and test them all on day 5 (anyone who develops symptoms before this will be tested as soon as symptoms start). If negative, students may continue in class with a mask until day 7, after which they can be mask-optional if no symptoms have developed. If positive, we will send the student home to begin a 10-day quarantine. For our residential students, we will move them to quarantine spaces or they may return home for the quarantine period.
We will continue to honor our Covid Commitment from last year by continuing the following CDC recommendations:
- Encourage vaccination
- Encourage mask-wearing
- Handwashing
- Distance when possible
- Cover coughs and sneezes
- Sanitize all community surfaces, often
- Monitor child’s health daily
As we partner to ensure the health and safety of every member of our community, we ask that you please keep your child home if he/she presents with any, even mild, symptoms. We will continue to post Covid data on the Covid Dashboard in the weekly newsletter. Additionally, we ask that each family has a conversation about the importance of respect and courteousness to all during these challenging times, but particularly toward anyone who makes a different choice on the use of masks. This issue continues to be very divisive in our community and across the country; please join us in mitigating the divisiveness among our Webb family. We are grateful for your cooperation and are thankful you have chosen to share your children with us this year. Please call or email Tabetha Sullens at 931-389-5772 / tsullens@webbschool.com or Risa Brown at 931-428-7594 / rbrown@webbschool.com with any questions or concerns.
Respectfully yours,
Tabetha Sullens, Assistant Head of School For Student Affairs
Kenneth C. Cheeseman, Head of School