May 10, 2022
Dear Students and Families,
I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to some real spring weather this week. I am reaching out with some updates on recent COVID activity. Unfortunately, Maine is in the midst of a surge in cases, and it is not without an impact on our school community. For your information, below is a spreadsheet that includes recent activity with students, faculty, and staff:
With busy end of the year academics, activities, and events, we hope to limit the impact of COVID over the last month of the year. In addition to a surge in COVID cases, there are also other illnesses keeping students, faculty, and staff out of school. Of course, we don’t want students to miss important classes and activities, but we also need to ensure that we have sufficient faculty and staff to cover classes. With the help of other personnel covering for absent colleagues, we have been able to manage coverage thus far. We hope to avoid any class/school cancellations if at all possible, but at a certain level it may become unavoidable.
There are several things you can continue to do to help mitigate the spread of COVID:
- Please stay home when sick or exhibiting symptoms of COVID.
- Test at home and contact the school if a student is positive for COVID.
- Stay up to date on vaccinations and boosters.
- While wearing masks is optional, there are some cases where we ask that you don a mask. These include wearing a mask if you have recently finished an isolation for COVID (days 6-10) or if you have been a close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID.
- Regularly wash hands.
As a reminder, the state of Maine is ending their pooled testing program this week. Thursday, May 12, is our last scheduled day of pooled testing. NYA’s latest COVID guidelines may be found on our NYA COVID page.
I understand how frustrating it is to still be talking about the pandemic. The good news is we are now in a phase where we are striving to manage it in a way that has less of an impact on our daily lives. At the same time, it still poses health risks and forces members of our community to miss valuable school time. Thus, it is important we do what we can to slow the spread. I am extremely grateful for everyone’s efforts, support, and flexibility throughout the pandemic. I look forward to a strong and successful finish to the school year.
Sincerely,
Ben Jackson
Head of School
