As we’ve gathered with our faculty and staff for pre-service, it has been overwhelming to experience their joy and to hear the excitement for your children to return. We look forward to welcoming you to campus.

Our highest priorities are the safety of our students, faculty, and staff and in-person learning. Over the last 18 months, we have experienced how the situation regarding COVID-19 and the associated variants (i.e., Delta variant) are dynamic within the Nashville region and beyond. We are grateful for a year of COVID-19 data specific to the St. Paul community to determine the best measures to provide a healthy environment this year while prioritizing in-person learning. As we prepare to welcome your children back to school, we want to ensure that the following measures are part of a layered prevention strategy to help limit the impact of COVID-19 on our campus.

Due to the recent outbreaks in summer camps and schools, we will begin the first two weeks of the school year at Level 3. The current virus metrics within Nashville (1 in 7 are currently positive in Davidson County) and the St. Paul community evidence the likelihood that some students will be carriers of the virus at the beginning of school. Starting the school year with Level 1 or 2 may pose a significant risk for exposure to the virus and subsequently require an extended leave of absence during the first few weeks of school. With the vast majority of our students ineligible for vaccination and the many unknowns of the Delta variant and its pervasiveness, implementing the highest level of protection for our students during the first few weeks will be essential to in-person learning. The immediate and full immersion of our students into the loving classroom culture is not only what we have been preparing for all summer, but also is the necessary first step to a successful school year. These first touchpoints set the tone and rhythm for the year, especially for those who have just joined our community. It is our hope that after this two-week period and the accumulation of data regarding the pervasiveness of the virus within our school community, we will be able to move to Level 2. I realize that this decision is inconvenient and deeply difficult for many of our families and faculty members. However, I also know that our communal belief, that we are better together, will impart the strength required in order to ensure the likelihood of our children remaining in the classroom and connected to one another.

Together, we can protect the health of the St. Paul community. Through those who are age-eligible considering the benefits of being vaccinated and taking extra caution through sanitation measures, we all play a role in mitigating the impacts of COVID-19. Many thanks to the St. Paul parents who are doctors serving on the frontlines of now overwhelmed emergency and ICU facilities across Middle Tennessee. Their endurance through the long years of the pandemic is truly admirable.

We are focused on this year being memorable in many ways. From celebrating our 50th anniversary and welcoming new students, faculty, and staff, to providing a vision for the ways our campus and community will grow and thrive over the next several years, we are ready for a year of being present with sights set on the future.

We currently plan to continue many of the measures in place during the majority of the 2020-2021 school year, specifically with students being grouped into cohorts to allow for rapid contact tracing in the event of a spike in COVID-19 cases.

In effect, students will be in cohorts with their class while indoors. These class cohorts will be compartmentalized as units to ensure that if or when there is a spread of COVID-19, it will be minimized to specific locations and pinpointed further within a smaller group of the class.

Should the need arise throughout the school year for a class, grade, or school to go into distance learning, homeroom teachers will be contacting parents directly with individualized schedules and plans. Below are a general guideline for distance learning schedules by grade.

Delivered: July 30, 2020
Updated: November 20, 2020

The main office, school nurse, and the operations team led by Sarah Blair are the points of contact in the event of a suspected positive COVID-19 case. This group will also continue to conduct contact tracing and notify impacted parents promptly of any students identified as a close contact (defined by the Tennessee Department of Health and CDC). Mask wearing is an acceptable distancing measure to avoid quarantine should a student be in proximity to another student who tests positive. There will be strong preventative messaging for identifying COVID-like symptoms early, and any COVID-like symptoms will be treated with great caution. In the event that a student is in required quarantine or isolation, remote learning will be made available through the child’s homeroom teacher.

If anyone in your household is awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test, you may send any child(ren) who have not been tested to school during the waiting period, if they are not displaying COVID-19 symptoms. They will be required to wear a mask. If the test results for the person in your household are positive, we ask that you please notify our school nurse, Catie Lee, immediately. We will bring your child to the clinic and ask that you pick him/her up as soon as possible. Please note that a child who has been tested and is awaiting results may not come to school.

Should a student develop symptoms at school, the student will be sent to the nurse for evaluation. She will assist with guidelines in accordance with the Tennessee Department of Health and CDC.

Data regarding the spread and severity of the COVID-19 Delta variant indicates that of those currently hospitalized, 97% are unvaccinated individuals. Experts estimate that an approved vaccine for children under the age of 12 may be available this fall. It is our belief that the vaccine is the safest and most effective means of prevention for our faculty and staff, and is one of the best ways to limit viral spread within our school community. Having said that, we recognize that the decision regarding vaccination is a personal one and, as such, should be decided among families. As a result, unless mandated by law, St. Paul will not require student vaccination when it becomes available. A high percentage of St. Paul faculty are vaccinated (95%), and will continue to follow mask policies dictated by the current level. Exceptions for faculty masking will be permitted when necessary. This includes the lowering of masks when appropriately distanced for educational and communication purposes. With the high percentage of vaccination among the St. Paul faculty and staff, we are confident that a safe and healthy classroom environment will be provided for your child.