Campus Learning occurs under Scenarios 1, 2, and 3. Sacred Heart Greenwich, as of August 3, plans to return to school under Scenario 2, where students, faculty, and staff will report to campus for Campus Learning, and students follow their standard schedules with additional health requirements such as physical distancing, face coverings, and daily health screenings.

Home Learning is an alternative option to Campus Learning under Scenarios 2 and 3.

Home Learning is available for: 

• those who opt out of Campus Learning for medical reasons or other personal circumstances.
• those who are quarantining (mostly) asymptomatically and physically able to follow along with in-person lessons from home.

Students who are home for a mild illness will not be expected to engage in Home Learning; they’ll be expected to follow the absentee policies of their divisions and focus on fully recovering from their illnesses so they can return to school.

Home Learning will, in most cases, involve students tuning in to livestreams of their regularly scheduled classes. In addition to that, there will be check-ins on the status of the Home Learning experience from advisors and/or lead teachers. The Home Learning curriculum will not look the same as the Distance Learning curriculum, because the teacher will be delivering the lesson in person, not online in a remote-first environment. 

Distance Learning refers to our approach when the campus shuts down entirely under Scenario 4 (and on virtual days in the hybrid Scenario 3). During Distance Learning, 100% of the students, faculty and staff experience school in our virtual environment. Similar to the offerings in Spring 2020, teachers will leverage various online learning tools to create robust synchronous and asynchronous lessons and assignments. For the 2020-2021 academic year, families can anticipate a number of advancements in our delivery, including updated technology training and equipment for Lower School students, and new schedules in the Middle and Upper Schools to better accommodate a transition to distance learning if needed. Teachers also completed extensive summer training thanks to our SophieConnect online learning platform on new tools and strategies for online learning to best be able to accommodate all types of learners virtually.

Families can also choose to opt a student out of Campus Learning at any point during the semester after discussion with the appropriate Division Head. Students will only be able to return to Campus Learning by giving the School two weeks notice and after a discussion with the appropriate Division Head and the school nurse. There will be no option to pivot between Home Learning and Campus Learning at another pace.

Sacred Heart leverages email, website, the parent portal, social media for most school announcements. Any major announcements, like a change from Campus Learning to Distance Learning, will also be shared via phone call and text message. Communication will always be shared with parents, faculty, and staff, and, where appropriate, with students who have email addresses (grades 6-12) and students who have shared phone numbers with the school (grades 9-12).

Sacred Heart Greenwich is an independent school and can act autonomously, moving between our four Learning Scenarios as makes sense for the health of our community. These reasons could include a decision by the federal, state, or local government, local health departments, or transportation companies that warrant an adjustment to the schedule, and/or changes in the epidemiological factors in the area and an increase in community spread of the virus. The State and others have provided some metrics for school to help in decision making: 7 day average of new COVID-19 cases per 100k population; percentage of positive testing in state and/or local area, absentee rates, and more. 

The School could choose to pivot an entire division or the entire school to Distance Learning based on infection rates in our school community/locally and on the recommendations of our medical advisors.

Sacred Heart has established relationships with a variety of medical health professionals, in addition to our school nurse and the local Department of Health. Should a situation arise that requires a temporary closing of the campus, all necessary groups will be consulted regarding next steps. Should the decision to close campus be made by the State of Connecticut or otherwise, our protocols for sanitization, communication, and learning continuity will be deployed, including a robust communication plan to engage our community in the information and decision-making. Our continuity of learning plan will ensure that academic programming will continue seamlessly regardless of the location of learning. 

No. Sacred Heart is prepared to offer a robust learning environment and uninterrupted academic programming to address any of the possible return to school scenarios: on-campus, modified on-campus, hybrid, or full distance learning.

The Fairchester Athletic Association has made the decision to cancel interscholastic league play and championships for the fall of 2020. This decision applies to our Middle School program- and there will be no interscholastic games this fall. Sacred Heart will still host an intramural MS athletic program on campus this fall, which will include sport specific practices, physical training, injury prevention, and intramural competition. 

To ensure a safe environment for our students and coaches, and adequate space for all our teams, Middle School practice times will be adjusted for grades 5-8. We are planning for grades 5 and 6 to have athletics from 2:10-3:25 (done in time for normal dismissal), and grades 7 and 8 from 2:45-4:00pm, with all practices meeting Monday-Wednesday. Practice days and times are updated on the athletics website.  Athletics will continue to be optional at the Middle School level, and available to all students who wish to participate. 

The School’s indoor athletic facilities are currently closed to all use. Our outdoor facilities are closed to individual use and internal programming at this time. Internal programming will begin the week of August 24th.

Sacred Heart Greenwich established an active partnership with the Greenwich Department of Health. The most up to date guidance on COVID-19 and specific information from the State of Connecticut Department of Education and Health will guide our decision making around cases that may arise in our community. 

It is possible that contract tracing could take 48-72 hours, and it may be a necessary precaution for that class or cohort to transition to Home or Distance Learning until the Health Department provides advice about campus return or continued quarantine. 

Extensive cleaning would take place on campus during this time.  After contact tracing is performed, the Health Department would make recommendations on who could return to school and who should continue with a 14 day quarantine.

The School will work to support and guide any student, faculty, or staff member who has a confirmed positive case and also communicate to those exposed to follow a 14 day quarantine as outlined by the current Department of Education guidelines.

In line with the requirement from the State of Connecticut and recommendations from our medical experts, the CDC, and the American Association of Pediatrics, masks will be required for students, faculty, staff and any other visitors while on the Sacred Heart Greenwich campus. Some exceptions may apply and will be communicated as determined in conjunction with federal, state, and local guidance as well as our health experts (for example, when outside with appropriate physical distancing). 

Approved cloth face coverings include: Sacred Heart spirit wear masks (an initial supply will be provided at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff); cloth masks (all patterns and designs should be school appropriate); and any face masks for sale in the School Bookstore or via the uniform ordering website. The school may also approve special senior face covering designs or other special, seasonal designs as appropriate. 

If a student forgets his/her face covering, it is unusable for any reason, and/or does not appropriately fit, as determined by the school nurse, the school will have disposable masks on hand to provide the students (from the nurse’s office). 

If a student wishes or needs to routinely wear a disposable mask, medical grade mask or no face covering at all, this will require consultation with the student, parent, student’s physician and the Sacred Heart Greenwich school nurse to determine which option is appropriate for the specific health issue. This will factor in medical and mental health conditions, parent concerns, learning needs, and the epidemiological factors/current level of COVID-19 cases in the area.