FEATURE
faculty, and staff have signed a Community Health Pledge, agreeing to follow the health and safety protocols to protect our community. Before the school day begins, everyone coming to campus completes a health screening questionnaire, alerting our two well-trained and caring full-time nurses to any COVID19-like symptoms they may have. If they aren’t feeling well, they stay home. At school, they visit the health clinic relocated for this year in our Athletic and Wellness Center. In our classrooms, protective plastic shields sit on faculty and student desks. Teachers open windows to let in the fresh air. Everyone on campus wears a mask. The entry points of all campus buildings have been designated as either “exit only” or “entrance only” to facilitate safe transitions. School hallways have been equipped with directional traffic pattern signage so that traffic flows in one direction only.
during COVID-19
U
nder the large white tent behind Souby Hall, a group of seniors sit socially distanced as they quiz each other for an upcoming biology test.
In another tent just across the lawn, an Upper School music class works on sight-reading exercises while their teacher plays the keyboard. During lunch, the younger girls will gather here to eat pizza or sandwiches and chatter about their day, and after school they will giggle as they do handstands inside the tent while waiting for cross country practice to begin. The tents are one of the many measures Harpeth Hall took this school year to ensure the safety and health of our students and faculty. The 10 covered outdoor spaces — all with fun names like Spirit Bear tent and Care Bear tent — allow students to spread out while they learn. Across campus, myriad other safety systems are in place, and all of our families,
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HALLWAYS
Students and faculty clean their desks after every class with disinfecting wipes provided by the school. In the dining hall, students pick up a pre-packaged meal in a reusable container to take to one of the tents or to eat on Souby Lawn. The playground equipment is disinfected daily, and additional outdoor portable sinks and hand-sanitizer dispensers can be found throughout campus. Harpeth Hall hired additional day and evening cleaning crews to sanitize classrooms, restrooms, and common areas throughout the day and each evening. Though the safety measures may seem overwhelming — even intimidating at times — the students have shown how well they can adjust to new policies and embrace the call to care for each other. In her recent “Bears Repeating” piece, Head of School Jess Hill wrote: “Many times, we initiate changes that we fear will be disruptive for our students or community, and the girls take it in stride. They lead the way.” Indeed, behind their masks, our students are still smiling. They are asking good questions. They are thinking critically and leading confidently. And, through the choices they make to protect the wellbeing of their classmates and their teachers, they are living honorably.
