Details on When Capitol Will Return to In-Person Learning
I want to start by commending you all for a great start to the new year. We are in our fourth week of school, and despite the challenges of opening in a 100% virtual environment, our students and teachers are doing great work together.
Although we are pleased to see the energy and enthusiasm for virtual instruction, it is now time for us to turn our attention to when and how we might return to in-person instruction. We have three key principles that guide our COVID-related decision making:
- Safety of students, staff, and families remaining the top priority of decision-making
- A commitment to quality instruction, whether we are in-person or virtual
- Families having choice in determining whether to return to in-person instruction or to continue with virtual learning
As of now, Capitol High School will remain closed for in-person instruction through Labor Day. To consider when we will reopen after Labor Day, we have been conferring with education leaders across the city and, after much discussion, consideration, and with the help of public health experts, including Our Lady of the Lake and Ochsner, decided upon the following approach.
We will continue to follow health expert and health agency guidelines as necessary conditions
We will continue to abide by all local, state, and federal health department recommendations and mandates, and we will treat the guidance and recommendations as necessary conditions for opening. Right now, public health experts are making recommendations on safe return based on 14-day trends on a combination of different COVID-related metrics for Baton Rouge, including the daily number of new cases, the percentage of tests that return with a positive result, the decline in the number of positive cases, hospital capacity, etc.
Our local healthcare partner, Our Lady of the Lake, is a part of the district reopening task force, and we will continue to rely on their advice and guidance.
We will operate our schools with the most effective health and safety protocols
Our protocols for in person learning will include the following:
- Practicing social distancing in every classroom
- Hand sanitizing stations in every classroom
- Requiring masks for all students and adults
- Reducing cross contamination by reducing classroom changes and keeping students together to the extent possible
- Screening for COVID symptoms every day
We value parent choice
In the coming days and weeks, our team will be reaching out to get information from parents on whether you want to stay with us virtually or whether you want to return to in-person instruction. We are pleased to be in position to support either option.
We will communicate next steps for in-person learning on or before September 28th. It is important to remember that to ensure effective social distancing, we will be returning in a hybrid format with roughly half the students on campus on any given day. This means students will attend school in-person for two days of the week, while spending three days participating virtually.
Again, please be on the lookout for further communication from us in the next few days, and let’s continue to work together to do the things in our personal lives that will allow us to open our campus safely.
Sincerely,
Justin Blanchard
