Dear Friends,

I hope you are all well at the close of the week. I am writing with news about our plans for the opening of school at Westtown, in light of new public guidance.

Throughout this summer of planning, preparations, and decisions, we have looked carefully at Westtown's unique needs, priorities, and opportunities, while also remaining attuned to public requirements and guidance. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Health issued updated guidelines for all schools in our state. This evening, the Chester County Health Department (CCHD), which serves both our county and neighboring Delaware County, issued recommendations based on the statewide guidelines. The CCHD now recommends that all schools begin the school year online through at least Friday, October 9, 2020. The director of the CCHD has advised that this timing "will mitigate any impact anticipated by increased cases due to holiday activity at the end of the summer season." The department also notes that all schools must be treated as "congregate settings" for the duration of the pandemic, and emphasizes the need for fidelity in implementing "multiple prevention, containment and mitigation strategies." I spoke personally with the director of the CCHD this evening, and am persuaded that these recommendations are made from an informed vantage point about expected developments, to support the health of children, families, and education professionals in the two counties which are home to many Westonians.

Yesterday evening we received courtesy advance notice of the CCHD recommendations, as well as advice from the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, and have been considering what they mean for our school ever since. After careful discernment, we have decided the following:

Lower and Middle School will open in Westtown Distance Learning and will remain in that mode until Tuesday, October 13 at the earliest. As you know, until this most recent development, we had been working on plans to open on campus for students in PK-8, while building capacity to pivot quickly to WDL and support children learning remotely. Lower and Middle School faculty will now shift all their energy and attention into WDL, in our earnest commitment to supporting your children's learning and growth at a distance for at least the beginning of the fall. At the same time, we will continue honing our mitigation plans, although we now know that the earliest we might make use of those plans will be in two months.

As previously announced, Upper School is also opening in Westtown Distance Learning. This development does not change our plan to support those boarding students who have been given permission to learn through WDL on dorm. Be assured that we will remain open to game-changing developments that would allow Upper School to come back to campus before the end of the semester, but certainly no sooner than October 13, and we continue to advise students and their families in Upper School to expect that we will remain in WDL through December 11.

I know that this news will be received with a variety of thoughts and feelings, from relief to anxiety to disappointment, and everything in between. I myself sometimes feel like we are trying to find stability in the middle of an earthquake with a hailstorm on top and the occasional tsunami thrown in for good measure. We empathize deeply with all that you and your children are going through!

We know that especially for Middle and Lower School families, this news will also raise many practical questions: everything from how to collect the materials your children will need for WDL to what this means for co-curriculars and social-emotional support. Upper School families may also be wondering how this informs T. Veda's thinking about co-curriculars and enrichment activities in Upper School. Although we have found time for ample discernment about the essential conclusions described above, we are still working on the details. Next week, division principals will reach out to their communities with further thoughts, and invitations to zoom conversations will follow. Meanwhile, we are clear on one thing:

We do not advise families to pay out of pocket for a COVID test at this time. Because we are very eager for all of our students to come to campus, T. Will and T. Karyn will consider whether limited on-campus orientations and get-to-know you activities will be possible in light of the new guidance, but it seems clear that any on-campus activities will be of limited scope and duration and we do not feel it is necessary for families to invest in a costly and invasive test at this time.

As always, thank you so much for your patience and partnership. Please hug your kids for us, and we will be back in touch next week. Friends, we will get through this earthquake-hailstorm-tsunami together.

Yours,