What is the school's plan for classes after Thanksgiving break?

Updated on Nov. 19

As each of our families finalizes plans for Thanksgiving break, we are asking everyone to continue following the same health and safety protocols, code of conduct and duty to disclose during Thanksgiving week that have been in place since the start of the school year. Students who are able to strictly adhere to those protocols will be able to resume on-campus activities on Tuesday, Dec. 1. (Monday, Nov. 30 is a Teacher In-Service Day with no classes scheduled.)

Quarantining after Thanksgiving

Students (day and boarding) who travel on public transportation or gather in large groups lacking safety protocols over the Thanksgiving break will be required to follow one of two options before returning to campus: 1) quarantine for 14 days at home, or 2) combine a one-week quarantine with surveillance testing. This second option involves obtaining two negative PCR test results, with the second test occurring no earlier than day 7 of the one-week quarantine. Ideally, tests would be conducted on days 5 and 7 of the quarantine.

Students choosing option 2 can come to campus the week of Nov. 30 only to be tested, or they can be tested elsewhere. Testing on campus for students the week of Nov. 30 will be available on Monday 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., and Wednesday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Students who are symptomatic should not come back to campus for testing and should contact their primary care physician.

Please note that individuals who come in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case during the Thanksgiving break will be required to follow the 14-day quarantine. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the CDC issued a new definition of close contact as part of its overall COVID-19 guidelines. Close contact is now defined as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

There may be additional circumstances in which individuals encounter risks for exposure to COVID-19. In these cases, individuals will be required to follow the above quarantine and testing measures.

Plan for Returning to Campus after Thanksgiving Is Based on Three Assumptions

This plan is based on three assumptions: 1) Austin does not experience a significant surge in positive cases between now and Thanksgiving that results in city orders restricting in-person school programming, 2) we do not have a significant outbreak of positive cases in our school community between now and then, and 3) we are able to build sufficient surveillance-testing capacity by Thanksgiving through the program described above. We are currently on schedule to build this capacity.

For those students who have decided to continue remote learning between Thanksgiving and our December break, we will continue to support them with outstanding online programming. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Health Center team at healthcenter@sstx.org if you have specific questions on how our quarantine protocols apply to your Thanksgiving plans.

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