School Entry After Breaks

Dear Parents,

We are thrilled to have 90 percent of our student body on campus learning. Providing a healthy and safe learning environment for students, faculty and staff is constantly at the forefront of our minds. We appreciate your partnership and attention to our email communications and policies. 

Since the onset of the pandemic, Hebrew Academy has taken a proactive approach towards mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in our school. Thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers, this approach has successfully prevented over a dozen potential closures within the school. We are aware, and prepared for, COVID cases to be in our school, but to-date and with tremendous thanks to Hashem, we have been blessed with keeping our physical doors open. 

From the first day of school, our team has had to navigate cases and questions daily. There is a constant balance that we face when making decisions. We are conscious of what may be too strict or too lenient.  All of our decisions take into consideration the physical and mental safety of our students and staff and their unique educational needs. There is no playbook for these unprecedented times. 

There has been a recent uptick of COVID cases in our community and in local schools. This has now affected our school, requiring many within our school to quarantine. We ask that you continue to follow proper guidelines during this time and be vigilant. After Sukkot, we followed strict protocols to ensure everyone coming back to campus was COVID negative and cleared to return. These protocols assisted in our efforts to remain physically open. We couldn’t have done this without your cooperation.

In an effort to be consistent and proactive following upcoming school breaks through January 3, 2021, we have set the following in action: 

Following Long Weekends (November 15-16, November 26-29, December 11-13, December 25-28, January 1-3),

• Students will not be required to take a COVID test to re-enter school. 

• All families from Early Childhood - Grade 12 will be required to complete a provided form stipulating their activities during break. Families who have traveled by car or plane and slept outside their houses, attended simchas, participated in social gatherings and the like will need to remain at home as per the COVID-19 Decision Tree. 

Policies pertaining to re-entry following school breaks occurring after January 3, 2021, will be determined at a later date. 

Definitions of travel and social gatherings are provided for your reference:

• Definition of Travel:

  • Any trip utilizing a car, plane, boat, or other mode of transportation that requires a family to sleep outside of their primary residence. 

• Definition of a Simcha, Party, and Social Gathering:

  • Any planned or spontaneous event or activity that is fifteen minutes in length or longer, indoors or outdoors, even with masks, even with social distancing, with more than two families.

  • Gatherings with less than two families other than the immediate family, although not considered a social gathering, require the wearing of masks and the practice of social distancing. 

Also for your reference, please find below a copy of the form families will be asked to sign when returning to school after school breaks as described above. The form will also be sent to families before school resumes after said breaks. 

We thank you for your continued cooperation as we navigate this journey together. 

Sincerely,

Rachel Weinberger
Director Operations and Business & HR

Lynn Friedman
School Nurse

Rabbi Shaye Guttenberg
Head of School 

Pledge:

I understand that participating in certain activities may pose a risk to myself, my family, and our Hebrew Academy Community. My family and I do our part to protect ourselves and Hebrew Academy students and staff by wearing a mask when we are around others and avoiding risky situations that may result in exposure to COVID-19. By signing this pledge I verify that I am honest about my family’s activities and if my family has traveled, joined in social gatherings, or has participated other activities that may have resulted in exposure to COVID-19, we are obligated to stay home from school for the requisite days and/or test for COVID-19 as described in the Hebrew Academy COVID-19 Decision Tree. I further verify that if I am found to be dishonest about my family’s activities, and/or do not quarantine as required by school policy, that I am not only exposing others to COVID-19 but I am putting the enrollment of my child(ren) in jeopardy.