Student Life

STUDENT LIFE

While the health and safety of the George School community remain at the forefront of the upcoming school year, we continue to encourage our students to have fun both on campus and virtually. Over the spring and summer students remaining on campus engaged in a variety of activities.

They created films and enjoyed a range of art projects. They learned to make their own flatbread pizzas and had weekly movie watching parties with their classmates. The pool offered an opportunity for students to learn new skills, like swimming and kayaking. Community adults also hosted splash parties and fiestas.

Students who were learning remotely joined in for video games, Pictionary nights held over Zoom, and a Chopped-style cooking competition that had George School participants from all over the globe. There are sure to be more opportunities like these to come for both students on and off campus in the upcoming school year.

GUIDELINES

George School will be a closed campus at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year. This means that boarding students will be expected to stay on campus. Travel into Newtown and the surrounding area will be restricted. Day students are not allowed back on campus in the evening or on weekends. Day students or any guests will not be allowed to visit or stay overnight in dorms. We will continue to revise this policy over time as public health guidance evolves.

During the academic year students on campus must have their temperature checked daily at their designated scanner location.

Students are expected to provide their own reusable masks and must be masked at all times except when eating. Masks should be hand washed at the end of each day. Students must also maintain physical distance, keeping at least six feet apart whenever possible.

All clubs and organizations will meet online.

MEAL INFORMATION

Lunch will be served “grab and go” style. All items will be prepared by CulinArt and individually wrapped. Choices will include hot and cold sandwiches, entrée and side salads, fruit, and dessert. Lunch will be served in several locations to reduce the number of people in one location.

During the academic day and in the evening students must follow the schedule for their assigned meal times.

Boarding students may have nighttime and weekend off-campus food deliveries, but the student will be required to pick their delivery up at the Main Drive Security entrance. Students must adhere to the time restrictions that will be dictated by the dorms.

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS

While off campus medical appointments are discouraged, we understand that emergency care may be needed. Any student, day or boarder, who must leave campus for an off-campus medical appointment must go to the Deans’ Office and then the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC). They must check out at both places. When they return to campus they must check in through the SHWC. The SHWC will then let the Deans’ Office know that the student has returned.

DAY STUDENTS GUIDELINES

Day students who choose the on-campus option are welcome on campus from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays. They may arrive at any time before their 2:15 p.m. in-person obligation, and should check in upon arrival with our attendance supervisor in the

lobby of the Fitness and Athletic Center (FAC). Students arriving before 7:15 a.m. will pass the time in the meetinghouse until check-in begins at 7:15 a.m. Students will be assigned a place of study with others in the same grade. They will join their online classes and connect with friends in person from that location. They will move from this home base for things like consultations, collection (advising group), meeting for worship, lunch, midafternoon in-person time with teachers and classmates, and physical education/sports.

Once students arrive, they are expected to remain on campus until the end of their in-person obligations. Student pick-up by 6:00 p.m. will also be at the FAC. Day students will not be required to stay late for meetings.

Parents will notify the Deans’ Office of any situations warranting special consideration of these time constraints. Day students are expected to attend their in-person activities on days they come to campus, so please notify the attendance supervisor when not coming to campus.

Locks will be required for all lockers (with any empty locker zip-tied shut).

BOARDING STUDENT GUIDELINES

Dorm residents are the only ones allowed inside dorms. There will be no inter-dorm visitation or overnights until further notice. Day students and any guests will not be allowed entrance to any dorm at any time. This includes dorm common areas. All deans and dorm heads will continue to have access to all dorms.

Boarding students must remain on their halls only. We will require that the student prox cards reflect this intention so that floor to floor visitations can be halted until further notice.

Students must move in on the designated day and time. To limit exposure, students can have the assistance of one other adult during their move-in time. Students and their support person must wear a mask at all times during the move-in process. Due to physical distancing, students will be limited to the necessary items for school. Students should bring bedding, toiletries, academic belongings, and needed attire. Belongings cannot exceed four large boxes or suitcases or storage totes.

DORM ROOM OCCUPANCY, FACILITIES, AND LAYOUT

Based on guidelines and availability, we will not be changing our housing structure and students should expect to be in doubles based on the housing preferences they have identified.

Bathroom times will be scheduled. Residents will be given a number that corresponds to the facilities they are assigned to use. If a student needs to use the toilet facilities outside of the assigned time, they are allowed to do so. Dorm kitchens will be closed until further notice but may be opened on a reservation basis later in the year. Students will receive training on kitchen use and cleaning protocols.

The laundry facilities will also operate on a schedule. Residents will not be permitted to do laundry in the dorm when it is not their assigned time. School laundry service will remain available for students who sign up.

Dorm rooms were assessed and reconfigured to allow roommates to physically distance where applicable. The rooms cannot be reconfigured and if students move furniture upon arrival without approval, they will be required to change the room back to the state they found it.

CLEANING OF THE DORM

Common areas will be cleaned daily by Environmental Services throughout the academic week. Room inspections will continue to occur for students. It is important that we try to maintain a clean residential environment. Each dorm floor has access to sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer.

MASKS

In the dorm, residents and dorm staff will be required to wear masks in public spaces. This includes hallways, stairwells, and bathrooms when students are not doing something that would require a mask be removed (i.e. brushing teeth, washing faces, and showering). Residents can take off their masks when they are in their own room with their roommate. If a dorm staff member enters a room, residents should put on a mask. Masks should be hand washed at the end of each day.

STUDY HALL AND CHECK-IN

Study Hall will be from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the dorm for all students. Students are expected to be in their rooms for the duration of this time and will not be permitted to use the common areas. Check-in will begin at 7:30 p.m. when Study Hall starts, and students will not be allowed to leave the dorm after the start of Study Hall.

LEAVING CAMPUS

Boarding students will not be allowed to go off campus for overnight visits with day students or nonGeorge School friends.

Boarders will not be allowed to go home unless it is an imperative or emergency situation. Should a boarder need to go home, they will need to quarantine for 14 days upon their return.

Boarders who must go home for an emergency situation but whose parents cannot pick them up must be driven home, and they will be charged for the transportation costs. Ride shares (Uber, Lyft) will not be allowed.

VISITATION

Students on campus will have many opportunities to spend time with other students in their hall, in their residence, in the student center, and across the campus. At the beginning of the school year, however, dorms will operate with a cohort structure. This means that you will be operating as a group based on your hall and are limited to accessing the other halls in the dorm. Due to physical distancing and the size of dorm rooms, cohort members are not allowed into another student’s dorm room.

Since George School will be a closed campus to maintain a healthy campus, no outside visitors will be allowed into the dorms at the start of the school year. Visitors include family members, non-George School students, day students, and members of different dorms. This will be revisited later in the year.

After September 26, provided current trends in cases do not increase, parents of boarding students may schedule periodic three-hour appointments to visit their children on non-consecutive Saturdays or Sundays in the designated campus locations. Parents must wear masks for the duration of their visits to campus, may not enter any indoor facilities, and should maintain physical distance from other members of the George School community. Parents must schedule campus visits through the Deans’ Office. Please note that students will not be able to leave campus with their parent.

STUDENT HEALTH CENTER

Boarders may enter the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) for their daily medication or to seek treatment. Students will also have access to counseling services. If a student has COVID-19 related symptoms they will enter via the basement of the SHWC to visit the designated isolation area in the SHWC for further screening.