Ending The Zoom Call: SJS Transitions from Remote to In-Person Classes

Starting Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, approximately half of the student body at St. John’s will start in-person classes. While school officially started back on Aug. 19, everything to date has been online. The school’s administration has been working diligently to implement new guidelines to ensure a healthy and safe environment for students and faculty as we transition from virtual to in-person learning.

Last week, students received an assigned letter group (A or B) and were told that each group would have one week of in-person classes followed by one week of remote classes; the plan will be re-evaluated after four weeks.

“I think the school has found a good balance of maintaining Covid-19 safety guidelines and allowing half of the student body to return,” junior Megan Chang said. “Although it will be tricky to be in a class where students are half remote and half in-person, I think it will be nice to have some sort of social interaction again!”

Below are some of the guidelines which will be strictly enforced in hopes of keeping our community healthy:

• Parents will be required to fill out a daily Covid-19 screening assessment for their student prior to the start of school.
• Every student will be required to wear a mask while on campus and it must be worn at all times except while eating, drinking or during supervised mask breaks outside.
• Lunch and snacks must be brought from home.
• We will not have access to lockers this year.
• Water bottles must be brought from home. The water fountains on campus have been disabled.
• We will have additional time to get to our next class. Classes will be dismissed on a rolling basis to make sure there is less traffic in the hallways.
• All entrances and exits to buildings will be clearly marked and hallways will be one way (as noted by signs on the floors).