Covid-19 Updates

Dear ANC Community,

As you may be aware, Montgomery County community transmission level is at “high” and unfortunately, we are seeing a high and rising number of COVID-19 cases in our school population. We are officially in “outbreak status” and the Office of Public Health is growing increasingly concerned with our case count.

Although we are not mandating masking at this time, in order to prevent more drastic consequences from being imposed upon us which could include mandated masking, school closure, pivoting to virtual, or cancellation of end-of-year events, we are strongly urging students and staff to increase and improve their personal mitigation efforts. Specifically, we are asking that people wear a mask, wash or sanitize their hands regularly, avoid crowded spaces when possible, maintain distance when possible, and maximize airflow.

If you are attending the Sports Awards event on Thursday evening, we request that you wear a mask.

Staff and students who are not well or are experiencing any symptoms should not come to school and should contact the school nurse. We will continue our test-to-stay program in order to maximize opportunities for people to be in school and contain case spread.

Our goal is to be able to provide all of the standard end-of-year events and traditions. In order to do that, we need to slow the spread of cases. Everyone can play a helpful part in this effort. If cases continue to rise in our school population, you will likely receive another communication that may include additional mitigation efforts. If we are able to arrest and lower our case count, we will be able to enjoy a traditional and celebratory end of the year.

James M. Adams, Managing Director

Jeremy T. Irwin, Boys Principal

Kira R. Schadegg, Girls Principal

Dear ANC Community,

This notice is to inform you that we are adjusting our masking policies effective immediately.

All students and staff will continue to be required to have a mask on their person at all times (can be in a pocket or backpack). The reason for this is there are some spaces that will still require masking (small office spaces, Health Clinic, etc.). But for the bulk of the daily experience, we will be adopting a mask-optional/recommended approach. In most spaces and for most activities, students and staff may choose whether or not to wear a mask. Some people may choose to wear a mask in some spaces, but not in others depending on their level of comfort and need. The only COVID-19 mitigation that is changing is the masking requirement. All other protocols remain in place. We will continue to engage in testing and contact tracing. If we experience a surge in cases or other challenges related to COVID-19, we may return to required masking for a period of time.

Individual staff members who have reason to maintain a higher level of caution for their own safety or the safety of a close-proximity contact may require masking in spaces they control.

At this time, the infection rates in this area are still high, and the recommendation from all standard health agencies is that people should choose to wear masks indoors. While these organizations continue to recommend that people wear masks indoors, they also recommend that the responsibility for decision-making about wearing masks should shift away from organizational mandates and requirements toward individual conscience and community care.

We must be very clear: students and staff who choose to wear a mask may have good reason to do so and derogatory or unkind commentary directed at those individuals will not be tolerated. Nobody knows all of the complex factors that anyone else may be dealing with. We must maintain a commitment to treating everyone with dignity and charity.

Dear Parents,

We are happy to have the students back on campus, and we are working hard to maintain a safe environment for in-person classes to continue. It has been a challenging period of time with record-high cases being recorded locally, regionally, and nationally. Here are a few lessons gleaned from last week and some projections for continued actions in the weeks ahead.

Testing:

As directed by the Montgomery County Health Department and the clinical leadership at the Policy Lab at CHOP, we have been doing rapid Covid testing for all students and employees who either show symptoms consistent with Covid-19, or have suspected exposure to someone with the virus. This testing will continue. A positive test results in a five day period of isolation off campus. Return to campus after five days is permitted without further testing, provided symptoms are resolved or resolving.

There have been instances of students or staff with clinical signs of Covid whose test showed negative results. We are told that sometimes the Omicron variant “escapes” detection until the amount of virus in the person reaches a certain level. A person who has the symptoms of Covid but does not yet test positive may still be asked to isolate for five days, and may be offered repeat testing if needed.

Masks:

We continue to require masks in all school buildings for all students, faculty, and staff. Due to the highly contagious nature of the new variant, we anticipate continued use of masks to help reduce person-to-person spread. Our goal is to maintain in-person learning, and masks will help us to do that. We will review our mask policy again in two weeks.

Omicron:

There is hopeful news out of countries that have had a surge in this variant ahead of us. It appears that this fast, steep rise in cases might be followed by a fast, steep decline. We are hoping that this will be true for us.

Thank you:

Many thanks to all of you who continue to support and follow the guidelines, especially when they seem hard to take. We are all Covid-weary, mask-weary, test-weary. But we are working hard to keep our plan of action consistent with the best guidance from the experts in the field. We continue to keep the goal of safe, in-person learning a priority. To that end, it is imperative that students who are not well stay home. Please do not send students with symptoms to school (fever, chills, headache, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea).

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us.

James M. Adams, Jeremy T. Irwin, Kira R. Schadegg, and Crystal Smith

Dear ANC Families,

The first term will be over in just a few short weeks, and we want to provide you with an update. Firstly, it is such a blessing to be able to be in person and be back to “normal” or nearly normal in nearly every category of our operations. That said, students have had a very fractured academic experience for portions of the last two years and it has had a tremendously challenging impact on their ability to perform and persevere. We are seeing students struggling with academics, executive functioning, mental health, and many basic functions on an unprecedented scale. Please know that we are doing our best to maintain academic rigor, while also working to assist those in need. Please do what you can at home to support your students in completing assignments fully and on time, being properly dressed for school (which includes their student ID), arriving on time, and fulfilling other standard expectations. Getting everything back to fully normal is not a simple switch that can be flipped. It’s going to take some time and lots of effort on everyone’s part. We’re glad to be partnering with you on this journey.

There will be increasing instances of larger in-person gatherings as we head into dramatic performances, concerts, and various in-school assemblies. Please know that we will continue to follow the Montgomery County school exclusion guidance chart. This means that if your student is identified as a close contact of a positive case and is vaccinated, they will be permitted to continue attending school, as long as they do not have symptoms and are tested within the recommended timeframes (we are happy to provide the testing for your convenience). If you have chosen not to have your student vaccinated and they are identified as a close contact of a positive case, they will need to quarantine for at least seven days.

Beginning in the new term, we are going to pause our daily temperature checks, but we must ask again that students not come to school if they are sick. For now, masks will continue to be required when indoors. Students should come to school wearing a mask and should bring a backup mask in case they break or lose the mask they are wearing. Also beginning in the new term, we are going to need to change how we handle the lunch period. Unfortunately, we are experiencing an unacceptable level of theft from the Dining Hall. Therefore, starting after Thanksgiving, students who are not buying lunch from the Dining Hall will eat their lunch in the Fine Arts Building and will not be permitted to enter the Dining Hall except with special permission for certain lunchtime meetings. Dorm students, students on the meal plan, and students purchasing lunch with campus cash or a credit card will eat lunch in the Dining Hall. Students who have their ID will be processed first. Students without their ID will be signed in after students with their ID have been processed. Please help your student remember the importance of bringing their ID and wearing it properly during the school day.

It has been made abundantly clear that our efforts to improve the Friday schedule by moving the assembly period to the end of the day had unintended negative consequences that far outweighed the positive gains we had hoped to achieve. Therefore, as of the start of the Winter Term, we will be keeping the same bell schedule, but the assembly period will be moved to the period directly after chapel. This way, students, parents, and staff can count on the academic day ending at 1:51 on Friday each week.

The weather is getting cooler. Thanks to our new, more relaxed dress code, students are allowed to wear solid-colored sweaters, sweatshirts, or fleeces during the school day.

Some of the important events coming up include the Fall Performing Arts Concert on Friday, November 12 (8:00 at Mitchell Performing Arts Center) and the Fall Sports Awards Ceremony on Saturday, November 20 (7:30 at Mitchell Performing Arts Center). We are not advertising these events to the broader community, but students and their families are warmly invited to attend.

As the Fall Term draws to a close, exams will be taking place on November 19, 22, and 23. DO NOT have your student leave school early for the vacation. This can be very disruptive to the student and creates improper extra work for the teachers during a time that is already extremely busy. The exam schedule is different from a typical school day. Students are often finished earlier than usual (between 1:30 and 2:00) so there may be adjustments to transportation needs. Also, there are bigger gaps of “free” time during the day, and sometimes students want to leave campus to go to get a snack at a local convenience store or restaurant. Please remember that students are not permitted to leave campus without having completed a Leaving Campus Form, printable from our website or available from your respective school secretary. If your student has already submitted this form this year, they do not need to resubmit it. Students who leave campus during the school day must always check out and back in with their respective secretary.

We are looking forward to a really good end to the term and hope all of you have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving Break.

Dear ANC Families,

Dance and Sports Camps start a little more than one week from now. School starts in just over two weeks. We are sure many of you are aware that there are renewed concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19, and the current guidance is that schools should employ masking while indoors. ANC plans to follow the most up-to-date guidance and therefore expects that we will start the year with everyone wearing masks while we are indoors. Students will be provided opportunities to have mask breaks, and we do not anticipate that masks will be required when outdoors. As things currently stand, nearly everything else will be “back to normal” which means the dorms will be open and extracurricular programs will be active. Please review the accompanying updated COVID-19 general protocols. We will adapt these as circumstances dictate.

Please be sure to review the Student Handbook, especially regarding attendance and dress code. Those sections have been updated to reflect a more streamlined and simpler approach that we hope will please everyone. Review the textbook and supply lists and do your best to secure these items in advance. There is a Facebook group called “ANC Books” that can be useful for people looking to buy and sell items with each other.

Please remember we will not be offering remote or hybrid learning next year unless we find ourselves in a situation where the entire school needs to go remote.

Thank you for your continued support. We are very excited to see everyone and are looking forward to a very successful year!

Kira Schadegg and Jeremy Irwin

Dear ANC Community,

We are writing to let you know about the recent COVID-19 cases that we have been experiencing at our school, to let you know what we have discovered, and most importantly, to ask for your assistance so that we can remain open for in-person learning and extracurricular activities. 

How many recent cases have we had in the past week? 

We have experienced 11 recent cases with students and staff. The first positive case resulted in a comprehensive contact tracing and that resulted in multiple people getting quarantined. A number of subsequent positive cases were from within that group that we had already quarantined, and were/are therefore not posing a risk to the ANCSS community. We also had several positive cases that were due to family or social interaction and were not due to school transmission. Several cases linked to ANC were because individuals failed to properly follow mitigation efforts on or off campus. We have repeatedly asked people to follow proper protocol and sadly there are students and families that are not doing so. 

How close are we to getting shut down for 14 days?

As we outlined in our communication last week, we were almost shut down. We were allowed to remain open because we have been following all of the protocols, quarantining students and staff according to guidelines and we have done extensive contact tracing. Montgomery County Department of Health acknowledges that the spread of COVID-19 in classrooms that follow mitigation guidelines is relatively low. What is causing issues in a number of schools, including ours, is some students and families are not following guidelines outside of the school day. We acknowledge that everyone has the right to make their own decisions outside of school, but we hope that people understand those decisions can negatively impact others and our school.  

Where are we now?

We are currently permitted to stay open and we are working hard to get to Easter Break. With the guidance of the Office of Public Health, we will be closing our dormitories over Easter Break (we had previously hoped to leave them open), so we can reset and sanitize our entire campus. Please know that we are very close to being shut down for 14 days. If we have a few more cases that are linked, we will be required to shut down and return to virtual learning. 

What will be impacted if we are required to shut down?

We will be forced to return to online learning for 14 days. We will be required to cancel all in-person extracurricular activities for 14 days. This will not be a suggestion from Montgomery County Department of Health; it will be a requirement. 

We are asking for your help to remain open! 

Please follow the guidelines that we have previously sent out. We can’t stay open without your assistance and adherence to these guidelines. 

Important Guidelines 

• Students are expected to continue to enter via the main front doors of either Benade Hall or DeCharms Hall, and receive a temperature check. Staff will also report for a daily temperature check as well. All students and staff are expected to complete the Daily Health Screening every day before leaving their home. This includes weekends and vacations. This policy will stay in effect for the foreseeable future. 
• If students are carpooling or riding in a car with others who are not members of their own household, they should be masked at all times. This is an especially important guideline.
• We are requesting that, as much as possible, students remain on campus for the entire school day. This includes lunch time. If you require an exception to that expectation, please contact your principal to discuss. 
• If travelling or attending a large gathering, your student will need to quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after travel or attending a large gathering. 
• Students will need to quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after exposure to a COVID-19 positive person, despite a negative test result. 
• If we become aware of a student not following these rules, we reserve the right to require that student to remain virtual for two weeks.
• Students and staff should eat only in designated areas on campus, or in their personal vehicles.
• Students will remain masked throughout the school day other than when eating lunch or taking a supervised mask break.
• Masks are to be worn on the campus at all times.

Ongoing adherence to guidelines by all will maintain our ability to offer in-person programs; failure to do so could result in further restrictions. Please understand that procedures and policies will likely continue to change as we receive updated guidance and recommendations from government officials and health care professionals.

We acknowledge that this has been and continues to be difficult for everyone. Please know that we are here to support you in any way that we can. 

We appreciate everyone’s efforts adhering to our mitigation policies. 

Please feel free to reach out to any of us with any questions or concerns.

Jim Adams, Crystal Smith, Kira Schadegg, Jeremy Irwin

Dear ANC Family, 

Today, we narrowly avoided being closed by the Health Department. We need to provide reminders and additional clarity and information regarding COVID-19 mitigation and procedures. As you may be aware, there has been a surge of cases in a local elementary school due to a surge in cases in a local youth hockey program. Additionally, ANC has been handling some confirmed and presumptive cases. 

The most important item is for all ANC community members to adhere to mitigation measures. Masking, distancing, and handwashing are critical. Students MUST NOT BE IN A CAR with non-household members unless everyone is masked. Symptomatic students should not go to school (even if just a sore throat, stuffy head, or feeling tired). If a student becomes symptomatic during the day, they should communicate and coordinate with their school secretary and nurse. Communication is the next most important item. Students and parents need to inform Nurse Crystal of any positive cases they are aware of and also symptomatic persons. The Health Clinic can track and respond to problems much faster if this sort of information is already known. Students and families should NOT post health-related information on social media or notify classmates. This causes panic and rumoring that is actually detrimental to both health and educational efforts. There is some confusion about what constitutes close contact, isolation, quarantine, and other terms. Please know that if a school or organization closes due to an “outbreak,” that does not mean that all members of that school or organization need to quarantine. “Close contact” can be determined in a number of different ways but is almost always done in concert with the Health Department. When managing a confirmed or presumptive positive case, ANC works with the Health Department to determine close contacts and to inform families of students who need to quarantine. Nurse Crystal, in collaboration with the Health Department, determines quarantine or isolation orders and communicates them to families. 

The amount of work required to accommodate a single student shifting from in-person to virtual is much more than it might appear. For this reason, we have been very clear that a student needs to determine their modality (in-person or virtual) and remain in that modality for the duration of the term. Exceptions to this approach include situations when the student is required (by an external entity) to be absent from school for a prolonged period of time (usually a week or more). Missing school for a day or a few days does not constitute a cause for shifting to virtual status. Students should approach those situations as they would have before COVID-19—being marked absent and working with their teacher(s) to catch up and stay up-to-date. 

We are working very hard to continue to provide in-person education and some extra-curricular options. We want to offer all of our students, and especially our seniors, a spring term that promotes community and relationship building. Your close attention to mitigation and communication is critical. Please do everything reasonable to reduce jeopardizing our ability to remain in-person. 

Thank you for your continued support, 

Kira R. Schadegg and Jeremy T. Irwin   

Dear ANC Community,

We are writing to let you know about decisions regarding our dormitories, athletics, dance, other extracurricular activities, and ANC summer programs. In addition we are providing an update on our experience with in-person classes that resumed on January 19, 2021. Below you will find information for each category.

Dormitories
Our plan is to reopen our dormitories after spring break. We have made this decision after reviewing all of the data provided by experts from the Office of Health for Montgomery County, the Policy Lab at CHOP, and other organizations from whom we receive information. We understand that this decision is not what some of our families want to hear at this time, but we felt it was best to let everyone know now for planning purposes. An important part of this decision was our full review of the circumstances that forced us to pivot to virtual learning in the fall and ways to prevent that moving forward. We also conducted surveys and have had many discussions with dormitory families and staff, looking for creative ways to open up safely and sooner. As has been the case during this entire pandemic, there are people on all sides of every plan that we have presented and considered. In an effort to be fair for all dorm students and their families, we have made the decision to reopen after spring break. This gives all of us additional time for planning and to determine additional mitigation efforts that will give us the best chance to keep our dormitories open for the remainder of the school year. All dormitory families will receive prorated refunds until spring break for their dormitory fees. Additionally, any dorm families who are not comfortable sending their students to live on campus will be provided remote and hybrid options.

Athletics and Dance
Our plan is to resume in-person athletics and dance after spring break. We understand that this is not what many of our students and families want to hear and we are saddened to have lost the winter season. We do not believe that we can provide indoor athletics and dance that are adequately safe at this time. Current advice suggests that being outdoors is the best option to keep our student athletes safe. Therefore, in the spring we may not be able to hold indoor practices if there is inclement weather, thus our spring athletics may look different. We continue to work on ways to offer in-person dance and are hoping to do so after spring break.

ANC Summer Programs
Due to the uncertainty of this ever-changing pandemic, and to give our families as much notice as possible, we have made the difficult decision to cancel our ANC Summer Camp and Tools4Life Camp for 2021. We are still exploring ways to safely hold our ANC Performing Arts Day Camp for 6th through 8th graders; this decision will be made by April. We know that many will ask why we made the decision now to cancel our ANC Summer Camp and Tools4Life Camp. Our camp directors spent a lot of time looking at various options to hold these camps this summer. We reviewed how our camps operate, took into consideration that full participation is important, and took into account that many of the traditional activities that are an integral part of these camp experiences will not be able to happen due to the pandemic. Finally, with the ongoing uncertainty of any future surges of COVID-19 spread that may cause a last minute cancellation, we believe it is in everyone's best interest to cancel for this summer. Our plan is to resume all of our summer programs in 2022 as they are a very important part of the ANC experience for our current and future students.

In-Person Classes Update

• We are happy to report that since we re-opened for in-person classes on January 19, 2021 our students and staff have done a good job following the mitigation protocols. As a reminder the following items are part of our current mitigation policies:
• Until after spring break our dorms will be closed and there will be no in-person extracurricular activities, including Dance, Athletics, Clubs, and the Musical.
• Some extracurriculars, such as the Musical, may be offered virtually.
• Because we are trying to avoid using locker rooms for the time being, we made a change in the dress code. All students may wear sweatpants or track pants as well as sweatshirts every day. The specific guidelines were provided previously. This way, those students who have PE can/should wear their PE uniform to school under track pants, sweatpants, sweatshirts and can then report directly to PE without needing a locker room to change clothes.
• We have returned to the 6-period “In-Person Regular Schedule.” Students who are remote should expect to attend classes virtually. Teachers of remote students may provide material to be completed asynchronously in place of virtual synchronous attendance.

Important Guidelines

• Due to the success of daily temperature checks that have provided us with additional mitigation opportunities, students are expected to continue to enter via the main front doors of either Benade Hall or DeCharms Hall, and receive a temperature check. Staff will also report for a daily temperature check as well. All students and staff are expected to complete the Daily Health Screening every day before leaving their home. This includes weekends and vacations. This policy will stay in effect for the foreseeable future.
• If students are carpooling or riding in a car with others who are not members of their own household, they should be masked at all times.
• We are requesting that, as much as possible, students remain on campus for the entire school day. This includes lunch time. If you require an exception to that expectation, please contact your principal to discuss.
• If travelling or attending a large gathering, your student will need to quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after travel or attending a large gathering.
• Students will need to quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after exposure to a COVID-19 positive person, despite a negative test result.
• If we become aware of a student not following these rules, we reserve the right to require that student to remain virtual for two weeks.
• Students and staff should eat only in designated areas on campus, or in their personal vehicles.
• Students will remain masked throughout the school day other than when eating lunch or taking a supervised mask break.
• Masks are to be worn on the campus at all times.

Ongoing adherence to guidelines by all will increase the ability to incrementally open our entire program; failure to do so could result in further restrictions. Please understand that procedures and policies will likely continue to change as we receive updated guidance and recommendations from government officials and health professionals.

We acknowledge that this has been and continues to be difficult for everyone. Please know that we are here to support you in any way that we can.

We appreciate everyone’s efforts adhering to our mitigation policies. We look forward to welcoming back our dormitory students after spring break and reopening Athletics, Dance and other activities as we are able to safely do so.

Please feel free to reach out to any of us with any questions or concerns.

James M. Adams, Kira R. Schaddegg, and Jeremy T. Irwin 

Dear ANC Community,

At its most recent meeting, the Pandemic Admin Team affirmed returning to in-person academics on January 19, 2021 (subject to any necessary changes before then). We will continue to support those students and staff who need to remain remote when we welcome students back to campus. We will also continue to monitor local conditions and guidance and will adjust accordingly. Our goal is to be able to offer in-person instruction in a way that is both safe and sustainable.

When we return to in-person instruction, we will also return to the standard bell schedule, which is different from the virtual weekly/daily schedule. During in-person instruction, students will follow their schedule available in MyBackpack. The same basic mitigation procedures we employed previously will still be in place:

• Students and staff will need to wear masks at all times except while actively eating lunch in a designated eating space or during a supervised mask break.
• Students and staff will remain a minimum of six feet apart while in class and during lunch. When transitioning between classes, students should minimize contact and maximize social distance to the extent possible.
• Students and staff will submit a wellness screening each morning before leaving home (or starting school if the student or staffer is virtual). We are happy to inform you that we have invested in a third-party screening application that is more user-friendly than the screening we were previously using. Instructions for installation and use of the new application are available here. Staff has been using the new app for several weeks. We ask that students start using the new daily screening on January 4th so they are familiar with it when we return to in-person instruction. The daily screening should be completed every day, including weekends and holidays.

Unfortunately, the community transmission rates in our area are not trending in the right direction and remain high. This is an area of concern. However, we have a good sense of the specific factors that are most likely to result in ANC being forced to return to virtual learning. We know that prime exposure vectors for ANC include:

• Sharing a vehicle with non-household members while not wearing masks.
• Attending social gatherings with people outside of one’s household.
• Activities that involve close contact and/or exertion.
• Dormitories.

It is important that we do everything we can to remain in a position to offer in-person learning, and we will need cooperation from our entire Academy family. In an effort to address these vectors when we resume in-person learning on January 19th, we will be adding mitigation procedures that were not in place in October. These additional procedures represent a heightened protective posture, and we hope to be able to reduce these restrictions as conditions improve:

• In-person offerings are academics only.
  • Until such a time as we can safely operate, there will be no in-person PE, athletics, dance, or extracurricular activities, including the musical. We expect PE, athletics, dance, and some other extracurricular groups to continue to offer virtual engagement. We are exploring the feasibility of offering the musical virtually.
• If students are carpooling or riding in a car with others who are not members of their own household, they must be masked at all times.
• We request that students remain on campus for the entire school day. If you require an exception, please contact your principal. This may seem like a strange request, but it is similar to the carpooling issue. When students leave campus during lunch, they often do so in groups and/or in cars without proper mitigation. This puts the entire school community at risk.
• Quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after travel.
• Quarantine and do virtual learning for 14 days after exposure to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.

If we become aware of a student failing to adhere to the above mitigation efforts, we may require that student to remain virtual for two weeks as a precaution so we can maximize the likelihood of continuing to provide in-person instruction.

We are unable to open our dormitories on January 19th. We are still in the process of determining when we can safely open the dormitories. We will be reaching out directly to families to review various options we are considering.

Please understand our procedures and policies will continue to change as we receive updated guidance and recommendations from health professionals and other entities. As everyone is acutely aware, we were only able to remain in the in-person format for a disappointingly short period of time in October. We know how quickly things can change. We recognize that we only have so much control over individual behavior when students are on campus and very little control over individual behavior when students are not on campus. It is very important that everyone works together so we can remain safe and in-person.

We are very excited to be able to return to in-person academics. Please know we are working very hard to ensure everyone’s safety.

Please feel free to reach out to any of us with any questions or concerns.

James M. Adams, Kira R. Schaddegg, and Jeremy T. Irwin 

Dear ANC Community,

We recognize that the recent decision to close may have seemed precipitous and surprising to some of you, and we wanted to take a moment to explain some of the background information that might help you better understand why we believe it to be the right decision.

As mentioned in Thursday’s letter, we worked closely with Montgomery County Health officials to determine the best course of action, and the decision was to close campus. We were anticipating, after the first reported case, a need to quarantine at minimum about 50 people due to close contact concerns. While we were working through that process with Montgomery County, we received confirmation of a second and third case, with more test results pending. As the circles of exposure expanded, it became evident that closure (and not merely quarantine) was necessary. When the second and third cases were confirmed, we were told that we should immediately return to virtual learning for a minimum of two weeks. Later Thursday afternoon, we received a message from MontCo that they wanted our campus, including our dormitories, completely vacated within twelve to twenty-four hours if possible. Additionally, a statement was released by Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh on Thursday urging all schools in Montgomery County who had any known positive scenarios to shift to virtual. The circumstances on Thursday meant that the earliest we could have come back was November 19th. It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to return to in-person modality for the three days of exams prior to Thanksgiving break. This is especially true for our boarding students. This morning, we received confirmation of a fourth case, with several more test results still pending. The circles of exposure at this point have increased significantly.

The current guidance is to cease all extracurricular activities. We will continue to monitor the situation and assess the feasibility of athletics and other activities going forward.

Some have asked what “close contact” means. Close contact is defined as being closer than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes regardless of masking, inside or outside. In the school buildings, through mitigation efforts, we have been able to maintain a safe distance for our students and staff. Therefore parents were not automatically notified if their student was in a class with someone who tested positive for COVID. There would need to be specific or additional contact in order to become a “close contact.” It seems there is also some confusion about quarantining. If you have been notified and instructed to quarantine, a negative test result does not release you from the responsibility to quarantine for the full two weeks.

We had already been considering the wisdom of reopening as initially scheduled on January 4th, given the likelihood of holiday gatherings and travel and a lack of engagement with mitigation efforts from some portions of our community. The decision to shift that date to reopen on January 19th at the earliest was to allow for a period of self quarantine in hope of minimizing potential complications upon return to campus. This decision is fully supported by Montgomery County Health as well.

The school administration and the Pandemic Administrative Team (PAT) continue to meet regularly and will continue to review our status with an eye toward reopening if and when possible. We are following the precise guidance from the regional medical experts who have the authority to provide such guidance and assist in making decisions. Keep in mind that you may also reach out to parent representatives who meet with the PAT.

No one is happy about this closure. We recognize that. We, too, would like to be open and are working towards being able to safely make that happen.

For the time being, we have made adjustments to the previous virtual learning schedule, which will be in effect until we reopen. The updated schedule can be found in the 2020-2021 Online and Hybrid Schedules document previously shared. We endeavored to address student requests to start and end their academic day somewhat earlier. That document gets updated regularly to help keep the most current version of the schedule front and center.

November 10th, 2020 Additional Information: The PA Department of Education has clear guidelines regarding the relationship between education modality and level of community transmission. For the majority of the preceding weeks, Montgomery County has been in the “Moderate” category which calls for “Blended Learning Model or Full Remote Learning Model. On November 9th, Montgomery County was reclassified to the “Substantial” category which calls for “Full Remote Learning Model.”

Dear ANC Community,

We are deeply sad to inform you that today we had three confirmed COVID-19 positive cases and we are awaiting additional test results. Montgomery County Health Department has been actively involved as we work through the ramifications.

One of the unfortunate ramifications is that we must pivot back to the virtual learning environment. Tomorrow, Friday the 6th, all classes and activities are cancelled. Students and teachers will have a three-day weekend as we prepare for the shift to virtual learning. Boarding students will need to return home as soon as possible.

All extra-curricular offerings, including athletics and dance are suspended until further notice. No practices, no gatherings, no meetings. The exception to this statement is that we anticipate allowing the drive-in viewings of “Happily Ever After 2020...Loading” and the performing arts concert as originally scheduled.

Having received input from students, we were working on an adapted virtual learning schedule. We will have that finalized and distributed to you by Monday. Students are permitted to enter the buildings on Friday to retrieve needed materials. All safety precautions must be followed.

We will remain in virtual mode until at least January 19th. This is two weeks later than the original goal of returning on January 4th, but is necessary and based on Montgomery County Health Department guidance.

Thank you for your continued support,

Kira Schadegg, Jeremy Irwin, and Jim Adams 

Dear ANC community:

We have completed the first week of in-person school. This first week has been a learning experience. We would like to share some things that have been working well and some areas for improvement.

What is working well:

• We are very appreciative of our proctors who are chaperoning students of remote teachers in the dining hall.
• Students are doing a good job of adhering to “stay to the right, single file, keep moving” in the hallways.
• Students are doing a good job with the mask requirements.

Things that could use improvement:

• Students and staff must complete the daily screening form every day before leaving home. This is an absolute requirement and must be done.
• Students must remain in their chosen lunch area from 11:17 to 11:49 AM.
  • Students who go off campus for lunch may go to one of the approved lunch areas (Dining Hall, deCharms 161, Fine Arts 200, or Fine Arts 300) if they return to campus before 11:49 AM.
• Students and parents need to communicate with respective school secretaries regarding absence and lateness.

Parents: please touch base with your student(s) and reinforce how important it is to comply with these expectations. Students: please comply with these expectations. Staff: please comply with these expectations and enforce them.

Thank you all for your continued support,

Kira R. Schadegg and Jeremy T. Irwin

Dear ANC Community,

On Monday we announced that ANC was reopening for in-person learning while also continuing to support those students and staff that need to remain remote. In that communication, we promised a more robust update that includes additional details. The promised update is available by clicking here. 

Please understand that procedures and policies will likely continue to change as we receive updated guidance and recommendations from government officials and health professionals.

We are very excited to see many of our students face-to-face and are working very hard to ensure everyone’s safety.

-Jim Adams, Kira Schadegg, and Jeremy Irwin

Dear Academy Family,

We had previously explained that we are operating in roughly six-week increments in terms of the primary modality for education during the COVID-19 experience. The first six-week increment is winding down. The Pandemic Administration Team met this afternoon to decide about the way that we will provide education to our students for the second six-week increment which goes from October 13th through November 24th.

We are pleased to report that we will be reopening our campus for in-person learning. We believe the mitigation efforts that we have established and the fact that the statistics in Montgomery County that are trending favorably means that we can safely and sustainably provide in-person education unless or until something significant changes. And so this message serves to notify you that ANC will be returning to in-person learning, effective October 13th. This includes opening our dormitories and dining hall.

As had been previously discussed and recommended, we will be virtual for the time between Thanksgiving Vacation and Christmas Vacation (November 30th through December 17th). Barring significant change, we plan to resume in-person learning on January 4th.

We will be sending out a detailed follow-up communication within the next several days regarding all of the information that you will need to know. But we wanted to send this initial message out today so everyone can start planning to come back to our campus. We recognize and support that some students, faculty or staff may need to remain virtual. We will continue to work with and support anyone that needs to remain virtual.

We may need to amend or reverse this decision if the ANC community experiences a sudden upswing in positive cases or if circumstances out of our control arise. In order for this reopening to be successful we need to develop a strong partnership with students, parents, and staff. In order for our school to remain open, it is critical that everyone who is a member of the ANC community or who has regular contact with anyone who is a member of the ANC community comply with all recommended guidelines specific to virus mitigation. Please do not encourage or participate in large gatherings of people that do not include proper social distancing and face coverings.

And finally, we remind you that as a community we all have a responsibility to remain civil, charitable, and professional. If you have strong negative opinions about the Academy and its decisions or employees, please do not broadcast your perspective on social media. Doing so does not change circumstances but does damage the institution and fractures our community. If you have concerns or questions, please reach out directly to staff and administration. If you are uncomfortable doing that, remember that you have a number of parent representatives who meet with the Pandemic Administration Team on a weekly basis and have a direct communication pipeline with the principals. Your parent representatives are:

• Nicole Bau-Madsen | nicole@dwave.com
• Kyle Genzlinger | kyle@genzlinger.net
• Heather Klein | hjkhome@comcast.net
• Scott Frazier | sifrazier@gmail.com
• John Thygeson | jrt46@drexel.edu
• Lance Wilson | wilson1021@comcast.net

We look forward to welcoming our students and staff back to our campus.

-Kira Schadegg, Jeremy Irwin, and James Adams

Dear ANC Community,

We have been back in classes for four days now following a three day orientation period. This communication will attempt to address some of the most common questions we have received of late.

Some parents are wondering how to help their student(s) stay organized and monitor their work from home. Firstly, every Monday morning by 8:00 AM each teacher should have placed a plan for the week in Schoology. You may sit with your student as s/he logs in to Schoology on Monday morning and get a fair idea of what work will be conducted in each class and what work will be synchronous or asynchronous. Additionally, teachers should post the actual work due that day each morning by 8:00 AM. It may be useful to refer to the Online Learning Agreement that had been previously distributed.

The Pandemic Administration Team (PAT) has been working diligently to plan for a phased reopening of in-person learning. As has been previously mentioned, staffing logistics is one major stumbling block to in-person classes. But not all programs have the same level of staffing challenges. For example, athletics does not have the same staffing issues and has been enjoying voluntary in-person practices for some time. Recently, the PAT gave the Athletic Directors (ADs) permission to attempt to find other schools willing to compete in contests. The ADs have been able to find interscholastic contests for all of our outdoor sports teams. As these contests are confirmed, we will be updating the Athletic Calendar on the ANC website. Transportation options may vary depending on distance and number of players, but we are glad that each outdoor sport will have some level of competition this fall. Now that Governor Wolf has raised the limit for outdoor gatherings to 250 we can even allow spectators at these contests! Other examples of optional in-person opportunities have included the Dance program and auditions for the fall play.

As we learn from other schools and our own efforts to re-engage with in-person experiences, we will continue to adjust our phased reopening of in-person learning opportunities. There may be some courses and programs that are more readily sustainable and safer than others for in-person work. 

One of the central components of the traditional ANC experience is gathering each morning to worship together. We want you to know that each week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students will have access to a new chapel service via Schoology. Anyone is welcome to view the services by going to https://www.ancss.org/quicklinks/news/livestream-chapel. We encourage everyone to watch the chapel services each week. For some, this may be a tremendous opportunity to watch a brief, spiritually-focused, and relevant presentation as a family.

Our absence policy remains unchanged. If your student will be absent from synchronous meetings or scheduled online schoolwork due to illness, a last-minute medical appointment, or a family emergency, please submit the Standard Absence Form and call or email your respective secretary by 8:00 am. If he/she will be absent for a driver's test, planned appointment or surgery, college visit, or other trips, please complete the Planned Absence/Educational Travel Request Form. Note that it is due back 5 days before the missed time so encourage your student to start early. Emailing all needed parties rather than passing around a paper form is acceptable during online learning.  As always,  we encourage you to look at the School Handbook as your first stop for information.

And finally, we want to acknowledge that each student’s experience is going to be different. Some courses are maximizing synchronous time slots while others are choosing to provide mostly asynchronous work supplemented by one-on-one phone calls and video conferencing. Depending on what courses a student is enrolled in, the synchronous/asynchronous mix will vary. We tried to allow for maximum flexibility for courses to deliver in the mode most appropriate to the curriculum and teaching style while also providing consistency and dependability. Some students excel in an online or virtual learning environment and are finding this experience perfectly manageable. Others struggle with this format and are finding this experience very taxing and difficult. We are trying to deliver a learning experience that meets the needs of all our learners to the extent possible while recognizing that every student’s experience is unique.

Remember to reach out if you need help or have questions. Don’t hesitate to contact teachers, school secretaries, academic advisors, or administration. We’re all here for the students.

Thank you for your continued support,

Kira Schadegg and Jeremy Irwin

The Friends Schools League announced on August 17th that they have made the difficult decision to postpone official Friends Schools League fall interscholastic competitions in all sports, effective immediately. To view the league's announcement, visit: https://www.fslathletics.org/?page_id=26453

While league competition has been postponed, at this time (subject to change) ANC is allowing voluntary athletic practices based on our approved Health and Safety guidelines. These are the same guidelines that our student athletes and coaches have been following this summer since the State of Pennsylvania went into the Green Phase. Coaches will also provide a remote program to all roster members. 

Dear ANC Community,

The data and guidance regarding school reopening has continued to change during recent weeks, and as a result, we have had to make a very difficult decision.

We had hoped to start the year in a hybrid model that reduced transmission vectors and left individual families to decide whether to utilize in-person options or choose an entirely virtual option. Given current circumstances, that approach is no longer possible.

We must start the 2020-21 academic year in a virtual environment. Education will need to be provided remotely. The safety and well-being of students, staff, and everyone’s families was an important factor in this decision. Updated CDC guidance indicates that children of all ages are susceptible to coronavirus and, contrary to earlier reports, may play an important role in transmission. Additionally, it has been determined that carriers are most contagious in the two days prior to the onset of symptoms. These factors essentially negate most of our mitigation protocols designed to protect our school community from infected individuals.

For many, this decision is very difficult to hear and we are sorry for any negative impact that it may have on our community. The Pandemic Administration Team has taken a great deal of counsel from a host of sources and has deliberated at length. Ultimately, however, the decision was made unanimously. The reality of the situation is undeniable: At this time, we cannot provide the necessary levels of safety, staffing, or sustainability in a hybrid or mixed environment. This is true even before a single positive case is identified on campus. If positive cases are identified on campus, in the household of a student or staff member, or in other areas where contamination could occur, the resultant mandated isolations and quarantines would result in unmanageable and unacceptable scenarios.

And so, once again, we need to adjust to conditions and find opportunities to improve and succeed. We plan to provide a follow-up communication with additional and more specific information on Monday.

The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. ~Joshua 1:9

Thank you for your continued support,

Kira R. Schaddegg - Girls School Principal
Jeremy T. Irwin - Boys School Principal
James M. Adams - Managing Director 

Athletics Health & Safety Plan

Click here to view the Athletics Health & Safety Plan

As of June 10, 2020 schools in counties designated in the Yellow and Green phases of the Process to Reopen Pennsylvania are permitted to resume athletic activities. This document outlines the policies and procedures for restarting optional training sessions for The Academy of the New Church Athletics, in accordance with Governor Wolf’s Guidance for All Sports to Operate during the COVID-19 Disaster Emergency. Coaches and athletes must adhere to all aspects of the Athletics Health and Safety Plan in order to participate. 

Dear ANC Community,

The ANC Admin Team has decided to use an abundance of caution and cancel all ANC summer camps for the 2020 season.

We are hopeful it will be a relief to parents and campers to have a definitive decision made early on about this issue. It is also in the best interest of the camp counselors to have advanced notice. 

We all are sad about the necessity of this decision. We know that our camps are much-anticipated rites of passage for many students. Please contact your respective camp director about refunds.

If you would like to discuss further, please reach out to your respective principal directly.

Sincerely,

ANC Admin team

Dear ANC Community,

With the new directive from Governor Wolf that all schools in Pennsylvania shall be closed until the end of the academic year, we are informing you that ANC will continue to provide distance education for the remainder of our spring term. 

Please know that we are in conversations about ways that we can provide our students, especially our seniors, an opportunity to engage in some of our traditional end-of-year events in some alternative format. 

We are also working on guidelines for refunds and reductions for a number of programs that many parents have paid for but will not be using (e.g. residence room and board, commuter meal plan). Students will receive additional communication next week about retrieving belongings from lockers and/or dorm rooms.

This has been and continues to be a difficult time for everyone. We want you to know that we appreciate the resilience of our students, parents, faculty, and staff who have all been through so much. We are proud of the way you have met these unprecedented challenges. 

We want to thank everyone for your understanding, suggestions, and support as we have all navigated these uncharted waters as a team. 

Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. ~ Psalm 31:24  

If you have any questions, or if we can support you in any way please contact us.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones,

Jim Adams, Kira Schadegg, Jeremy Irwin, and the rest of the ANC Administrative Team

Dear ANC Community:

As many of you are aware, Governor Wolf has extended the stay-at-home order through April 30th and has closed all Pennsylvania schools indefinitely. Due to this mandate, ANC is extending the closure of the school and campus through April 30th. We continue to follow the daily and ongoing guidance and recommendations provided by the Centers for Disease Control, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Montgomery County Office of Public Health, Pennsylvania Department of Education, National Association of Independent Schools, and other organizations on the status of the virus in the U.S. to ensure we make informed decisions that are in the best interests of our entire ANC community.

We have not yet made the decision to extend the closure until the end of the school year. We recognize that this can be a source of frustration for some of you. We have chosen this stance because we remain hopeful that the stay-at-home and social distancing measures will be lifted in time for us to enjoy a return to some semblance of business as usual after April 30th. We are very hopeful that we will still be able to enjoy some of the end-of-year events that are so important to our community.

We will continue to reach out to you with updates and additional information as it becomes necessary and appropriate.

Sincerely,

ANC Admin Team

Dear ANC Community,

We know that this is a difficult time for all members of the ANC community as we settle into this period of physical isolation in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus in our region. It helps to know that we are doing so for important and charitable reasons—keeping our families healthy, protecting the vulnerable in our society, and seeking to lighten the burden of dedicated health care workers.

We know that this temporary closure of the school as mandated by Gov. Wolf brings with it great disappointment over the loss of being together on a daily basis and the community events that so enrich our lives. We are especially sympathetic toward our Seniors.

We are extremely proud of our students for their flexibility, patience, and perseverance. And we are equally proud of our faculty for their efforts to creatively provide the curriculum to our students via distance learning.

This time of isolation is hard. Many families are managing life at home with children while balancing a myriad of challenges from work as well as concerns for family members. We have immense trust that ANC families, students, faculty, and staff will meet this difficult time with hope, resilience, and a balanced viewpoint. This time still affords us the opportunity to do the important things: be kind to one another, engage in self-care, stay connected to others through remote communication, and continue our individual journeys of self-reflection and discovery.

We have heard daily from teachers, coaches, directors, and advisors about how much they miss working with our students. Experiences like this really bring into focus how lucky we are to work where we work and to work with such wonderful students, families, and staff.

Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and wash your hands.

ANC Admin Team

Dear Students, Staff, and Parents:

We are winding down our first week of a very different educational experience. Everyone has had to make adjustments and everyone has had moments of frustration. But all of you have found ways to be successful and to adapt as best you can. We are proud of you.

Specific to the distance learning experience, we have only been at this for about four days. We have done some good things, but there is plenty of room for improvement. In an effort to encourage increasingly effective distance education, we have developed a Distance Learning Agreement which is being distributed to all of you. And each of you has a responsibility to help ensure the quality of education.

• Parents: If you have a concern about a class, a lesson, or an approach, please contact the teacher or an administrator.
• Students: If you have a concern or need help with a class, a lesson, or an approach, please contact the teacher.
• Teachers: Solicit and be open to feedback from parents and students. It is impossible to meet every individual need or satisfy every individual opinion. But there may be opportunities for adjustments that make everyone’s experience as excellent as possible.
• Everybody: Reach out to your administrators if you are feeling overwhelmed or unsatisfied. We are here to help all of you and take our responsibility very seriously.

You have all done a remarkable job adapting to unprecedented circumstances. Our spiritual theme for the year is absolutely appropriate for the times: Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. ~ Psalm 31:24

Be of good courage, friends. Ask for help when you need it. Give help when you can. Be kind to each other. Practice social distancing and wash your hands.

Take care,

Jim Adams, Kira Schadegg, Jeremy Irwin

Dear Parent/Guardian:

As you know, the ANC campus will be closed for at least two weeks. While the campus is closed, the faculty has been directed to provide distance learning for students.

In general, students can expect to have as many lessons for any given class as they would have had class sessions had the campus been open. For example, if a student typically had an English class four times per week, the student can expect to receive four lessons for the English class per week. March 16th is being treated as a non-instructional day, so for the first week of this closure, classes that would typically meet four times will only be expected to produce three lessons.

We are hopeful that we will be able to get back to business as usual sooner than later, but we also need to be prepared for a prolonged campus closure. Parents and students can reach out to the administration and teachers with questions and concerns.

Students and parents also have access to counseling services from the Growth Opportunity Center. Anyone that wants services from the GOC should contact Jen Elliott, their intake coordinator at 215-947-8654 option 5. Identify yourself as a student or parent of a student at the Academy who needs services during the shutdown. Jen will then contact Diane Sizer or Angelika Montalbano and someone will call to schedule an appointment. At this time GOC does not have a Telehealth Platform in place but they hope it will be available by the end of the week. Students or parents may also reach out to their principal, assistant principal, Nurse Crystal, or to Mr. Halterman or Mr. Barber.

We wrote this in our letter to the students, but it applies to us adults as well: This is an unusual experience, but we have every confidence that you are capable of managing it. Do the best you can. Ask for help when you need it. Be helpful and friendly to everyone. We’ll get through this together.

Sincerely,

Kira Schadegg & Jeremy Irwin

Dear Students,

As you know, we are shifting to a distance learning environment for at least the next two weeks. You should expect to have as many lessons per week in each class as you would have class meetings in a standard week. For example, if you typically have English class four times per week, you can expect to receive four English lessons per week. March 16th is being treated as a non-instructional day, so for the first week of this closure, classes that would typically meet four times will only be expected to produce three lessons.

It is your responsibility to check your school email regularly and do everything you can to satisfactorily complete the work provided by your teachers. You should feel free to reach out to your teachers if you need help. You can also reach out to the administration if you are having difficulty and need our help.

If you need to retrieve any materials from campus, reach out to Nurse Crystal (crystal.smith@ancss.org). If you need to borrow a Chromebook, reach out to Nurse Crystal.

This situation may be creating anxiety and stress for you. Be sure to ask for help when you need it. Even if you just need to “vent” you can reach out to a trusted staff member. You can also get help from counselors at the Growth Opportunity Center. Anyone who wants services from the GOC should contact Jen Elliott, their intake coordinator at 215-947-8654 option 5. Identify yourself as a student at the Academy who needs services during the shutdown. Jen will then contact Diane Sizer or Angelika Montalbano and someone will call to schedule an appointment. At this time GOC does not have a Telehealth Platform in place; they hope it will be available by the end of the week. Also, you can always reach out to your principal, assistant principal, Nurse Crystal, or to Mr. Halterman or Mr. Barber.

This is an unusual experience, but we have every confidence that you are capable of managing it. Do the best you can. Ask for help when you need it. Be helpful and friendly to everyone. We’ll get through this together.

Take care,

Mrs. Schadegg & Mr. Irwin

Dear ANC Constituent,

As per the recommendation of Governor Tom Wolf’s office, ANC’s campus will not be open for the two weeks after Spring Break (March 16-28). Barring additional directives from governmental agencies, dorms will reopen at 2:00 pm on March 29th and school will resume on March 30th.

Dorm students should remain home or with their guardian during this time.

For the two weeks that ANC will be closed as per the Governor’s recommendation, faculty will facilitate distance education (curriculum delivery and assessment) as best as we can manage. Students should check their school email regularly and anticipate working at home during this time period. We recognize that some courses will be less able to effectively manage distance curriculum and we plan to adjust institutional expectations accordingly.

Regular and appropriate correspondence will be central to the success of our community navigating this situation. If you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to administration or teachers as appropriate. Please, to the extent possible, remain unanxious, patient, and flexible. Everyone is doing their best to mitigate the circumstances and we need to continue to work together as a team.

We will continue to reach out to you with updates and additional information as it becomes necessary and appropriate.

Sincerely,

Kira Schadegg & Jeremy Irwin

• Centers for Disease Control – Facts, FAQs, Situation Summary
• World Health Organization – Information on the pandemic
• Montgomery County Coronavirus Resource Page – Local Information, Testing Registration
• Covid-19 Signs & Symptoms
• Covid–19 Prevention