Dear Parents,

All over the world, the 2020-21 school year is certain to be challenging. For this very reason, there can be no better place for your children than Westtown School. The continued uncertainties and anxieties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the deep-seated inequities in our world highlighted by our public health and economic situation, and the urgent need for change and accountability for the sake of racial and social justice — all of these factors highlight the importance of Westtown's mission and values. We are honored and pleased to partner with you as we help your children develop the skills, knowledge, perspective, and values they will need to steward and lead a better world.

We at Westtown have been carefully laying plans to support your children through this difficult time. In the coming weeks, our planning and preparation will continue, and throughout the year we will adjust according to new information and the changing situation. Meanwhile, thank you in advance for your patience with this very long letter. It contains important information about our academic program and campus life, our Interim Reopening Plan, choices available to your family for next year, and tuition support.

I hope that this letter answers many of your questions. In addition, I would also like to take the opportunity to invite you to a live zoom webinar with me on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00 p.m. EDT (invitation and information to follow).

Academic Continuity

We have missed your children! Westtown will be fully prepared to open in the fall, and we are eagerly looking forward to having classes and other activities on campus when in-person instruction accords with guidance from the state of Pennsylvania and public health authorities. However, we recognize that at times, we may need to close our campus and engage with students through Westtown Distance Learning (WDL). Pennsylvania's phased reopening plan requires all schools to close for in-person instruction during the "red" phase, which may come and go throughout the pandemic, and Westtown will be alert to signs that closure is imperative from a public health point of view. In addition, there may be times when all or part of our school must close for cleaning and/or contact tracing, in order to support the health and safety of our community.

Throughout the year, Westtown will provide students with continuity of instruction and support. Whenever we are faced with the need to close all or part of our campus, we will provide Westtown Distance Learning, so that they can continue to learn and grow, reflect and worship, deepen their skills and sense of identity, and remain in community.

Life on Campus

When we are operating on campus next year, we will adjust a number of aspects of our program, with the goal of delivering as much of the Westtown experience as possible while moderating the risk of contagion. Please take a few minutes to read our Interim Reopening Plan for a sense of what the coming school year may look like. In addition, please note the following.

Annual calendar: We have revised our fall semester calendar, available here.

Opening of School. We plan to begin the academic year one week early, on Monday, August 31, and to hold classes on Labor Day, in order to build continuity of instruction in the face of uncertainty posed by the global health pandemic. The opening of school will be experienced differently in Lower, Middle, and Upper School; details will follow from your child's division principal.
Thanksgiving Break. We will have a condensed Thanksgiving Break on Thursday and Friday, November 26-27 only. Because of the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic and possible need for post-travel quarantine, we strongly discourage Westtown families from traveling over Thanksgiving Break, and all boarders who live at a distance are encouraged to remain on dorm.
Winter Break will begin one week early and will extend by an additional week, from Friday, December 11 to Monday, January 11, in order to allow families time to travel and to quarantine for 14 days on their return to the Westtown area. Again, we warmly invite boarders who live at a distance to remain on dorm, and we look forward to celebrating the winter holidays with them on campus.
One-day Holidays. This year, students should expect to have classes on long weekends and one-day religious holidays. We do not wish to cancel classes on these occasions in advance, in order to ensure as much instructional time as possible, but will revisit this determination as circumstances permit. As always, we support students in their religious observances, and students who need to be released from classes for that reason are encouraged to contact their division principal.
We will confirm and share our spring semester calendar by November 15, 2020.

Daily schedules: We are reimagining daily schedules in order to support meaningful learning as well as health and safety measures; look for details from your child's division principal later in the summer. Please note that whereas some schools are employing an every-other-day strategy, we have determined that given our already small class sizes, whenever Westtown is open and your child is cleared to come to campus, your child can be at Westtown every day.

Meals: Our meal program for the Fall Semester has also been reimagined. Meals will be experienced in different ways in our three divisions, reflecting different divisional cultures and ages:

Lower School students will bring their own lunch every day.
Middle School students will be served lunch prepared in our kitchen.
Upper School Day students may choose to receive lunch prepared in our kitchen. Alternately, Upper School Day students may opt out of our program and bring their own lunch every day of the Fall Semester. Upper School Day families choosing to opt out of Westtown lunch for the Fall Semester should contact Nathan Bohn by July 1 in order to receive a refund of lunch fees. Throughout the fall, breakfast and dinner will be limited to boarding students.
Upper School Boarding students will be served three meals a day from our kitchen.
All students will receive daily snacks prepared in our kitchen.

We will ensure that all meals are prepared, served, and consumed in a safe way. Students should expect to take meals in small cohorts with as much physical distancing as possible, with thorough cleaning of our spaces both before and after meals. Food will be prepared by our professional staff, and work program responsibilities will shift to other areas of school life for the time being. Please note: Food deliveries will not be permitted during the day in any division; limited food deliveries will only be permitted during evening hours for boarding students. We will communicate our meal program for spring semester by November 15.

Flexibility and Choice for Families

As you see from our Interim Reopening Plan, we will initiate robust health and safety measures next year. Nevertheless, we must ask our families to understand that we cannot assure absolute safety from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. All over the world, for the duration of the pandemic, any mode other than strict self-quarantine will carry some risk of infection or illness. In turn, Westtown recognizes that every family is different in their circumstances and their capacity for risk. Next year, you must make the best decisions for your family, including deciding whether or not to send or bring your child to our campus. Westtown wants to support your family's decisions.

If at any time in 2020-21 you choose to keep your child at home when Westtown is operating on campus, we will provide them with the essentials of our academic program. Asynchronous lessons will be sent to students learning from home, to enable them to keep up with their peers in the classroom. We will also provide some additional opportunity for remote learners to engage with classroom instruction, either through live participation in certain online meetings or asynchronous viewing of recorded class sessions.
Due to the ages and developmental stages of Lower School students, their caregivers will need to play a significant part in helping them with asynchronous learning while at home.

Boarding Flexibility: For boarding students, life on dorm will be modified next year, with the goal of maintaining the vibrancy and life-changing growth experience of living with other students while moderating risk. Several changes to our residential program and policies are described in our Interim Reopening Plan. We wish to support Upper School families in making decisions that best suit their circumstances. For this reason, for the 2020-21 academic year only, the Westtown Board of Trustees has decided to waive the school's boarding requirement. On a semester basis, Upper School families have a choice:

All Upper School families may opt into our residential program.
All Upper School families may opt out of our residential program. Local families may choose for their children to attend Westtown as day students. Families who live too far from Westtown to commute daily may choose to keep their children at home; as described above, asynchronous lessons and other online materials will give them the opportunity to keep up with their classmates.

Upper School families may choose different boarding options in the fall and spring semesters. Those who wish to give up their children's dorm rooms in the fall semester must communicate this decision to Nathan Bohn no later than July 1, 2020. Decisions about spring semester boarding must be made by November 15, 2020. Families who choose boarding should be assured that students who live at a distance (and others by permission of the Upper School Principal) may stay on dorm all year — that is, through all school holidays or vacations as mentioned, and through any campus closures when the school implements Westtown Distance Learning.

Tuition Support

In good times and bad, a Westtown education is a deeply rewarding investment in your child's future. Even when we cannot be on campus, Westtown Distance Learning will deliver a high-quality, productive, accessible, and equitable experience for students. Nevertheless, we recognize that no distance learning program can deliver the full Westtown experience that you know and love. When schools must close, parents of Lower School students face particular challenges on account of the developmental needs of their children, and boarding students who learn from home are deprived of their residential experience. Westtown's administration and Board of Trustees have engaged in careful discernment about tuition at this time.

For any academic days in 2020-21 when the school implements Westtown Distance Learning for your child, tuition will be modified as follows:

Academic tuition payments (after financial aid) will be reduced during WDL by 15% in Upper and Middle School and by 20% in Lower School, and unused lunch fees will be refunded, on a prorated basis.
Unused room and board (tuition payments made in excess of the Upper School day rate) will be refunded to families of boarding students who return home to learn through WDL, on a prorated basis.

We are very pleased to be able to support our families by modifying tuition at such an extremely difficult time. This modification is based on an unprecedented fiscal strategy for the coming school year. Westtown depends on tuition revenue in order to fund our operating expenses. Next year, tuition discounts and room and board refunds for time spent in WDL will be possible only because our Board has elected the extraordinary step of making endowed funds available to meet the expense. As a matter of policy, Westtown does not use our endowed funds for operating expenses beyond what is allowed by our fiscally sustainable spending rule. Most of Westtown's endowed funds are restricted in terms of their use, and all are intended to secure the long-term financial health of the school. Indeed, only principled, responsible financial stewardship over centuries has put us in a position to take this one-time emergency action for the sake of our families at a difficult time.

Any refunds will be calculated following the end of each semester. Please note: academic tuition will only be reduced when the school closes all or part of our campus and implements Westtown Distance Learning for your child. Tuition will not be reduced for families who choose to keep their children home when they have the opportunity to participate in on-campus learning. If you have any questions about tuition, financial aid, discounted tuition during Westtown Distance Learning, or prorated refunds of room and board, please contact Nathan Bohn.

What's Next

Friends, in the coming weeks, we will continue to be in communication with you. Keep an eye out for additional updates from me, your child's division principal, and others at Westtown through the summer. We look forward to sharing information about a variety of topics, including health and safety updates, registration and orientation information, co-curriculars and other activities, and move-in dates for boarding students. As mentioned, I hope you will please join me for a zoom webinar on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:00 p.m. EDT, and bring your questions.

Meanwhile, please be assured that whatever next year brings, we remain committed to supporting Westtown students' learning and growth in a community anchored by Quaker values, helping them develop their unique purpose, and preparing them to be stewards and leaders of a better world.

Thank you for your partnership!

Yours,