December 31, 2021
Dear Link families.
We hope that you are enjoying the holidays and staying safe. As we all prepare to ring in a new year, I hope that 2022 brings your family good health, joy and peace.
This has been another tough season and it looks like the next few weeks will continue to bring challenges due to the fast-spreading (and increasingly more so) COVID-19 virus. We have been hearing from our own school community about positive cases with and without symptoms throughout the past week. We have also been in regular contact with the Newark Department of Health, which has been very helpful in providing guidance and information, as we strive to make the most informed decision in the best interest of our scholars and staff. Navigating the guidance has continued to prove challenging as it is constantly being updated. And, finally, we have been monitoring what schools in the area are planning as they resume instruction in January. Frankly, district plans are quite varied across the region, but we are all looking to make the best decisions we can.
Given all the current factors, including that we are hearing about more cases, that the virus is more transmittable, that we have many unvaccinated students and a significant number of high-risk members in our school community, as well as that we are a small school with limited human resources, we have consulted with a Newark Department of Health official who supported the following plan for Link:
After our scheduled remote PD Day on January 3rd, LCCS will re-open the instructional program with students on Tuesday, January 4th with an all-school remote structure through Friday, January 14th. The current plan is to re-open to in-person learning on Tuesday, January 18th (we are closed on Monday, January 17th to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday).
We urge you to isolate as much as you can during this period of remote instruction and to test (especially if returning from travel outside the NJ area, exposed to someone with COVID, or if developing COVID symptoms.) The current guidance is to test 3 to 5 days after exposure or returning to NJ if you are NOT vaccinated and 5 to 7 days after exposure or returning to NJ if you ARE vaccinated. To support testing, the NJ Department of Health is making free at home test kits available to all NJ residents. To order a test, please go to https://learn.vaulthealth.com/nj/ We also urge everyone to get vaccinated and to receive the booster if you can. If you test positive/have COVID, please contact our school nurses, Ms. Hannah and Ms. Merwede at nurse@linkschool.org and they will address next steps as the guidance is ever changing.
At this juncture, we hope we will be able to resume in-person instruction in just a couple of weeks, but we recognize a lot can happen during this time.
We know that this decision may negatively impact some families and staff, but we believe it is the best decision we can make to protect our community and to maintain an educational program. Frankly, opening up on January 4th and then having to close because of high numbers of positive cases, in-school transmission, or staff shortages would create a more challenging situation for us all. By planning for remote instruction now, we can all prepare. Thank you for working together to support our community.
We will be in touch with more information as it relates to the instructional program, but please plan for scholars to join their Google Classrooms on Tuesday, January 4th. Until then, please stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Maria Pilar Paradiso
Head of School
