Dear Miss Hall’s School Families,
 
I write with updates on our work managing two contained, positive coronavirus cases on campus and with information about this week at school. 

Out of an abundance of caution, we are going to be remote-only this week, shifting from campus condition YELLOW to ORANGE. All classes will be online for the coming week, with students remaining in their current learning cohorts, morning and afternoon EDT, as previously scheduled. Further details will follow in the Deans’ Letter later today. For this week, there will be no off-campus activities for boarding students; day students will not come to campus; and we will allow essential visitors only. 

The Incident Response Team (IRT) will continue to meet during the week to monitor conditions and will make a determination on Friday, April 2, about the campus level for the following week. Though we have shown that it is possible to do in-person learning safely and effectively, given current conditions, the IRT believes that moving to remote learning this week will limit the potential for community spread.

While the presence of any positive case on campus is concerning, this does not undermine our collective efforts all year to ensure health and well-being on campus. Our protocols for cleaning, space use, quarantine, and testing are working, and we have no evidence that the positive cases were a result of community spread. This is the time to double-down on our Common Good Guidelines, particularly as we are in a period of observance for the Passover and Easter holidays. Please remember to limit group gatherings to your household and to practice masking and distancing whenever possible, even if some attendees may be vaccinated.

Regarding our positive cases, follow-up RT-PCR test results received this weekend confirmed the presumed positive case communicated with you on Friday. That person is recovering in isolation on campus. Immediately upon learning of the presumed positive case, we initiated contact tracing, reaching out to all potential close contacts. Those community members received a rapid test, all with negative results, and they are currently quarantining — either on campus or at home.
 
Follow-up testing for individuals who were potential close contacts of the community member who tested positive during the week of March 15 came back negative, and those individuals can now move out of quarantine. Thankfully, all other samples tested as part of our regular monitoring testing on Friday came back negative

Thank you to students who participated in the regular monitoring testing this past Friday, even though it was a remote learning day. Our testing continues on Friday, April 2, and those in the rotation will receive an email from the Health Center with instructions. Please be in touch if religious observations require you to reschedule.
 
Our Health Services team and Residents are checking in regularly with students, and all MHS adults will ensure that students continue to feel connected and supported. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or my colleagues below with questions or concerns.

Julia Heaton, Head of School
Contacts and Resources
 
Lisa Alberti, Dean of Academics and Faculty, 413-395-7108, lalberti@misshalls.org

Mary Bazanchuk, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life, 413-395-7045, mbazanchuk@misshalls.org

Christie Higuera, Dean of Students, 413-395-7016, chiguera@misshalls.org

Paula Lima Jones, Dean of Equity and Inclusion, 413-395-7117, plimajones@misshalls.org

Christiane Puz, M.S., B.S.N., R.N., Director of Health Services, 413-395-7074, cpuz@misshalls.org