Sent 1.26.2021

Dear Rambler Community,

 

Thank you to our students, parents, faculty and staff for your ongoing flexibility. As we continue this remote week and look forward to a return to in-person learning in just a few short days, several points are worth noting.

 

As last week progressed, we saw the number of COVID positive student cases increase rapidly. By late Thursday, we had reached a number that was almost three times higher than anything we had seen at any point in the first semester. The impact of a positive case is, of course, also felt in the quarantines that result from it.

 

Given the rate of infection, the number of student absences and the fluidity of the situation, we made the decision, with the support of the COVID-19 Recovery Team, to move to remote learning for one week. It’s worth reiterating that the COVID-19 Recovery Team that guides our important work includes three physicians, two public health experts, the Wilmette fire chief, a health care expert and about forty other experts in education and adolescent health.

 

Our Rambler family is large and diverse, and the network of Ramblers runs deep. Our students' lives are wonderfully interwoven and overlap in their academic, athletic, cocurricular and social spheres. This is something we cherish about our community. Moreover, we are keenly aware that our community is not just our students—it's made up of over 300 faculty and staff members and thousands of parents, siblings and grandparents. A rapidly spreading virus can affect many within and beyond the student community.

 

We want to be in school. We lead and make decisions based on that clear desire. Our commitment to maximizing in-person learning is the responsibility of all of us. As we look to the future, we will not compromise in making prudent decisions and we ask you to do the same.

 

Our success in the first semester is testimony to the thoughtful path that we have followed. The hybrid model that allows us to have 1,000 students per day on campus has worked well for us. We enjoyed sixty days of in-person learning in the first semester. The reliable science behind de-densification and social distancing, along with mask wearing, led us to develop the model we use. Appropriate social distancing in classrooms and during lunch periods is achievable in the spaces available to us at a capacity around 1,000. If and when circumstances allow us to increase our daily on-campus population, we would certainly move in that direction.

 

There is good news on the horizon. We have built pathways to access the vaccine for our faculty and staff in the coming weeks, and new guidance was issued by the IHSA on winter sports. We approach the coming days with optimism.

 

We are looking forward to welcoming students back to campus next week as we continue our daily efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus in our community and beyond.

 

Sincerely,

Rev. Patrick E. McGrath, SJ
President

Charles W. Heintz
Principal