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Dear North Cross Community:
We completed our post-Spring Break COVID testing and were pleased to find only two students and two staff members tested positive. The two students were both fifth graders. We identified close contacts and notified their parents. Students testing positive and in close contact will isolate/quarantine per our policy. Our positivity rate for testing was less than one percent. We will continue our mask optional policy and are pleased to see community spread dropping to numbers we have not seen since early last summer. Further schoolwide testing remains an option but given the current state, we have not scheduled any future test dates. I remind you that should your child exhibit symptoms of COVID, please use two negative rapid tests taken at 24-hour intervals as evidence for a safe return to school. We continue to have PCR tests available for our students should you need further confirmation. Additionally, please let us know if you or your children test positive and should that be the case, be sure to follow CDC guidelines for a safe return. I remain cautiously optimistic, however, we will continue to watch community transmission rates. Thanks, CP
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Dear North Cross Community:
We have just completed our most recent round of testing and found 4 positives out of 463 tested, for a positivity rate of just under 0.9%. The positives were one upper school student, one JK3 (Hagan), one JK4 (Cook), and one 2nd grader (Daly). All close contacts have been notified and those positives will isolate according to our policy. All positives are asymptomatic. In keeping with recently established Board policy, our 0.9% positivity rate allows us to lift our masking requirements for students. You will receive a follow-up email from your division directors that answers many of your questions but do not hesitate to call them. We will lift our mask requirements beginning Monday, February 21. If you wish for your child to remain masked, please send them to school with a mask. Students returning from isolation, however, will be required to remain masked for ten days following a positive result or the onset of symptoms, whichever came first. I point out that masking when indoors continues to be an effective way to protect your child. I know this news will make some of you very happy and that some remain more concerned about the virus. I am aware that our decision to lift mask requirements comes with strong emotions but what I can tell you is that over the last three weeks, we have watched a number of very similar schools across the State make a safe and successful transition to mask optional. That, combined with our most recent test results that indicate a low level of virus in our community, will hopefully provide some much-needed assurance that the time is appropriate for lifting the mask requirements. The lifting of the mask requirement makes it even more important for you to keep children at home if they show symptoms. Aileen Fleming, our school nurse, is at school each day and if necessary, she can perform a PCR swab and you can get results back usually within 24 hours. Obviously, there are also at-home rapid tests that come in packages of two. Two rapid negative rapid tests, 24 hours apart, provide excellent assurance the symptoms are not COVID related. Let’s err on the side of caution. While I do not anticipate a need to reinstate masking requirements, we will retain the option if the circumstances warrant. As always, I appreciate your understanding and I am glad we are taking a significant step towards a normal school year. It has been a long slog and I am hopeful the dramatically decreasing new case rates are an indicator we can put the past two years behind us. CP Dear North Cross Community:
On Wednesday, we tested 459 students, faculty, and staff and there were 23 positives for a positivity rate of 5%. The bad news of course, is that we are still not at 2%, but the good news is that we saw a 50% decrease in our positivity rate over the past two weeks. Of the 23 positives, we had 1-JK4, 1-K, 1-1st, 10-2nd, 2-3rd, 3-4th, 1-5th, 1-9th, 1-12th, 1 staff, and 1 volunteer parent. Fortunately, all our positives were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. The most obvious number is the 2nd grade total but equally interesting is the predominance of positives in the lower school. A disproportionally high number of the lower school, and 2nd grade, positives appear to be students that have taken part in our “Learn to Skate” program. If we include students tested in late January, 11 of 28 students taking part in skating have tested positive. As a result, we will pause “Learn to Skate” until such a time we feel the community positivity rate decreases. Obviously, the lower school has a lower vaccination rate than middle or upper divisions but we did see a significant number of vaccinated lower schoolers test positive as well as unvaccinated students. I am encouraged by no middle school positives and only 2 upper school positives. We will continue to watch these numbers following the February 16 round of testing. Another important number is the decreasing number of those testing. We have slightly more than 250 members of our community that are not testing as they have tested positive during the past 90 days. As always, we will follow our protocol for those students testing positive and close contacts. Of course, masking continues to be on everyone’s mind and while communal masking is not a guarantee of remaining COVID free, we do continue to run a schoolwide positivity rate significantly lower than the current 28% positivity rate in Roanoke. It is good to see COVID trends in the Valley have peaked and are decreasing quickly. I remain optimistic we will soon return to positivity rates we saw late last fall. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we negotiate what I hope is the beginning of the new normal. CP North Cross community,
It was just about this time two years ago that we started worrying about the spread of COVID in China and what we would do with our campus in Shanghai. We were fortunate that school in China was headed into their long New Year Holiday so we had some time to get distance learning set up for a faculty that was spread across the world. Can you imagine teaching your classes remotely, when your students are in Shanghai and you are visiting your parents in Australia, or “trapped” in Phuket, or home in the States? We managed to seamlessly re-open our Shanghai campus remotely on return from holiday and move to masked, in-person classes by May. Our response in Roanoke has been informed by our experiences in Shanghai and I remain impressed by the job our faculty and staff has done. I tell this story for two reasons. The first, we have been dealing with COVID for a long time and I know we are all tired of talking about it, dealing with it, and worrying about it. The second is to point out that North Cross has been making decisions regarding the education of our students and our response to COVID for almost two years. The initial transition to distance learning, implementation of a schoolwide testing program, improvements to our air quality, consistent masking, and commitment to in-school learning are all examples of successes we have achieved. When I read articles in the national press about COVID related disruption in schools and the learning gaps that exist, I remind myself how fortunate we have been. All of this success does not necessarily mean that we have been perfect in our responses. We will never know if our testing, quarantining, contact tracing, and isolation policies were, or are, appropriate. But I promise in all of our efforts, we have tried to be thoughtful and responsive to the needs of our general community. Recently, we adjusted our isolation and quarantine policies subsequent to new recommendations made by the CDC. It is important to realize that we have never fully followed the CDC guidelines with regards to COVID but we have used them to inform our policies. The CDC makes guidelines for the general public and we apply them to our community as thoughtfully as we can. I think this is appropriate given that unlike the general public, our school community undergoes regular comprehensive testing, consistently has a positivity rate lower than regional and state averages, has mandatory masking requirements, and has an overall vaccination rate that is significantly higher than average vaccination rates found in other schools. In some cases we are more aggressive in our policies and in others, we are more conservative. I appreciate that all families are dealing with COVID in their own way and I recognize that our COVID policies impact different families with differing degrees of inconvenience. Recently, I had to cancel a much-anticipated family vacation because I tested positive for COVID just before Christmas. I know how hard it is being at home with little or no symptoms, all the while wishing I was on a sunny beach. COVID is unusual in that it affects everyone differently, most with very minor results. But by this point, I believe everyone knows at least one person that has suffered, or worse, from COVID. As a school, we weigh the dangers of continued community spread with the inconvenience and interruption of education that is caused by COVID mitigation efforts. This is a balancing act that requires both restrictive preventative measures, and more relaxed interpretations that allow for a more normal school experience. I don’t ask you to agree with every decision we have made, rather, understand that the most recent policies and the future inevitable changes to these policies, are our best effort at finding balance. Last year, we asked all students testing positive to isolate for 14 days before returning without additional testing. The CDC moved to a ten-day period but out of an abundance of caution, we kept the 14-day requirement. This past fall, as we became more comfortable with the success of our mitigation efforts, we reduced the period of isolation to ten days in alignment with CDC recommendations. Recently, the CDC, somewhat controversially, changed their COVID recommendations to require only a five-day period of isolation for persons testing positive for COVID, with no requirement for additional testing. Again, out of an abundance of caution, we have elected to continue with our previous requirement of ten days isolation, and no further testing, for unvaccinated students who test positive. But we are now allowing unvaccinated students to re-test after a five-day period of isolation to see if an earlier return is possible. This is indeed more restrictive than the CDC requirements but we felt the additional layer of testing for unvaccinated students is warranted. For vaccinated students, it was felt that a return after a five-day period of isolation was appropriate without further testing. Regardless of vaccination status, all students testing positive will remain masked when on campus for the ten days following the initial testing. Our decision to alter our policy is not politically motivated nor are we mandating vaccines for our students. Rather, our decision is one that attempts to balance safety and the ability to keep students in school. Over the last several days, it has been interesting for senior staff to receive about the same number of emails stating we should allow students to return with no testing as we have received concerns that we would allow students to return without testing. Both groups could be right. One thing that has been made apparent is that our Monday testing date had the effect of keeping unvaccinated students out of school for seven school days because of the follow-up testing schedule. Future testing will be scheduled on Wednesdays and Thursdays, a schedule that allows for potentially only five missed school days, even with the need for follow-up testing. I am deeply appreciative of the support we have received from our parent community over the past two years. This most recent spike in COVID cases has been particularly difficult to deal with, coming over the holidays and after 18 months of COVID caused weariness. We have managed to run a safe campus during this period and I sense if we can get through another couple of testing cycles, we will find ourselves on the other side of the pandemic. Thank you for your understanding, CP North Cross community,
On Monday, we tested 680 members of the North Cross community and results show 58 positives for a 8.5% positivity rate. This reflects the increased contagiousness of the omicron variant and the social nature of the holidays but the positivity rate is not much higher than our results from last year at this time. Of the 58 positives, 41 were students, 3 were faculty, and 13 were staff. We are fortunate in that the faculty and staff positives are spread out among the departments so that we are able to continue full operations. In response to changes made by the CDC, we are altering our quarantine and isolation policies for faculty and students that test positive or are deemed in close contact. At present, vaccinated means two doses of the MRNA vaccine or one dose of the J&J vaccine. Unvaccinated persons testing positive will isolate for five days and then re-test. With a negative result, they will be allowed to return. A positive result will require five more days of isolation. Vaccinated persons testing positive will isolate for five days then will be allowed to return without further testing assuming they are symptom free for 24 hours. In all cases, persons testing positive will remain masked for a ten day period, a non-issue given our current requirement to remain masked when indoors on campus. If a vaccinated person is exposed, we will not require a five day quarantine period. Should an unvaccinated person be exposed, they will quarantine for five days, then return following a negative test. It does appear that while more transmissive, the omicron variant is less severe, although there are increased numbers of pediatric hospitalizations. Please follow the recommendations of the CDC with respect to vaccinations and boosters for your children. We will test again on Thursday, January 20th. Thank you and again, I appreciate your patience as we negotiate our way through. North Cross community,
I hope all of you are having a safe and enjoyable holiday break. We have been closely following the spread of the omicron variant and it seems to be spreading very fast. On the positive side, it appears to cause fewer serious symptoms, particularly among those that are vaccinated, but it remains a cause for concern. I think our general precautions and masking are sufficient but I do think it prudent to test our community before we all return to campus. This prevents us from possible large scale quarantining of students that are exposed to students in their classrooms that test positive. As such, we are going to move our return-to-school testing to Monday, January 3rd, in the afternoon from 1:00pm to 5:00pm in the CAC for all students, faculty, and staff. And we will not have school on Tuesday, January 4th so that we may receive our test results. This allows us to start school on Wednesday with a student population as healthy as possible. I recognize that whenever we change our plans, it is an inconvenience and for that I apologize. I also realize that many families are using this day as a travel day which is why we have scheduled testing in the afternoon. Hopefully you will be able to return to Roanoke in time for testing. If you are unable to make testing on that Monday, please reach out to Pam Moskal, pmoskal@northcross.org, to arrange for testing. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience but we continue to try to do the best we can to keep our school as safe as possible for all. North Cross community,
We just completed testing 700 students, teachers, staff members, and volunteers and had 6 positive results. Among the positives were 4 lower school students, 1 coach, and 1 volunteer. There appeared to be no connections between those that tested positive so spread on our campus is unlikely. The lower school kids were in 3rd grade (Martin), kindergarten (Brown), and JK4 (Votta and Cook). These students, along with the adults, will isolate for ten days, then return following a negative covid test and 24 hours symptom free. Students determined to be in close contact have been notified and they are asked to quarantine for five days and may return following a negative test. All in all, we are consistently seeing low positivity rates and as a result, we will test again the week following our winter holidays. Thank you for all your hard work. North Cross community,
On Wednesday, we tested 706 members of our community for COVID, and we had six positive results, one in the 10th grade, one in the 9th grade, two 6th graders, one in the 5th grade, and one in the 2nd grade. These students will isolate for ten days and if symptom free, will be allowed to return to class. We have contact traced, and all students in close contact have been asked to quarantine for five days before being tested. With a negative test, they will be allowed to return to school. Siblings living in the same house are also treated as positive and will remain in isolation for ten days. All students are either asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms. I am pleased with a positivity rate below 1% and thank you for all of your care. Interestingly, in our contact tracing we found that four of the six students testing positive attend the same dance studio so we believe the transmission took place off campus. Our next round of testing will be immediately following Thanksgiving Break and given our low positivity rates, we will return from Thanksgiving in person. We have a second vaccination clinic scheduled for Friday, November 5. At this time, you may receive first, second, or booster doses. Thanks all, CP North Cross community,
We just completed our third round of testing for this year, testing 702 people over two days. I am very pleased to report that we had no positive results. Our mitigation efforts on campus appear to be working and your efforts to be smart at home are appreciated. The tendency to relax is understandable given these excellent results but let’s continue to stay focused as there is still considerable disease in the Roanoke Valley. We will test again on Wednesday, October 20, as this is after our Fall Break and immediately before Homecoming festivities. Our Homecoming dance will be held outdoors and we will once again offer testing for dates from other schools. Should our results on October 20th be comparable to recent results, the Medical Advisory Group appears ready to consider extending the period of time between testing. Again, that depends upon continued good results. We will also be offering a vaccine clinic on campus on October 15. This will be a Pfizer Clinic and first, second, or booster doses will be available. More information about appointments will be coming out soon. I do see the Delta Variant starting to wane nationally and it has stabilized in the Roanoke Valley. With vaccine rates slowly rising, I am hopeful we can get back to normal by the holidays. At least one can hope… Thanks again, congrats to girls tennis for a huge 5-4 win over archrival VES, and a shout out to football for a crushing 59-6 win at Blue Ridge School. There has never been a better time to be at North Cross. North Cross Community
On Thursday, we tested 663 students, teachers and staff members. We had 7 positives including 3 third graders, 3 sixth graders, and a substitute teacher. Per our policy, all persons testing positive will isolate for ten days and if symptom free for 24 hours may return. We have contact traced each positive and have notified those students that were in close contact. These students will quarantine for five days, test on the sixth day and will return with a negative result. We have evidence that there was spread within Mrs. Martin’s third grade class and her class will go virtual next week, test on Tuesday and with negative results, will resume in person learning on Thursday. Victor Lamas has provided more information to our third grade in a separate email. We also have evidence that there was spread in chorus as all three sixth graders sat adjacent to each other in chorus. They were all masked while in class but we have taken further measures by moving chorus outdoors in the future. An added bonus is that we will once again hear beautiful music when on campus. We are very pleased to have only a 1% positivity rate coming out of the Labor Day holiday and I believe this shows that even with the Delta variant, mask use and classroom air filters seem to limit the spread. Having said that, we have now had three instances of apparent classroom spread this year after not having any classroom spread last year so clearly the Delta variant is a tougher opponent. I hope you will be very cautious when off campus. It does appear that over our first two schoolwide COVID tests, higher vaccination rates do have an effect on decreasing the spread of the virus. We did have breakthrough infections for two of our teachers but all students that have tested positive have been too young to be eligible for the vaccination. I strongly urge you to get your children vaccinated if they are eligible. We are in the process of arranging another series of vaccination clinics on campus to make it as easy as possible. Currently, we are at 71% vaccination rate in our upper school, significantly lower in the middle school. I am in contact with a number of other independent schools and as a comparison, The Potomac School has 7-12 vaccination rates of 98% while St. Stephens and Agnes is 96% vaccinated. In addition, I am hearing a number of schools looking at requiring vaccinations as a condition to play winter sports. We will continue to keep an eye on things and will make decisions based upon our desire to remain in-person and as normal as possible. If you have already had your child vaccinated, please send us a copy of their vaccination certificate for our records. It helps immensely when determining policy for us to know overall vaccination rates. Thank you for your continued focus on the safety of our campus. |
Christian J. Proctor, PhDDr. Proctor is the ninth Head of School at North Cross and has served as such since 2011. He has more than 30 years of experience in education. He has served as headmaster at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, South Carolina, St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie, Louisiana, Grace Episcopal School in Monroe, Louisiana, and as Interim Headmaster at Wesley Academy in Houston, Texas. In each location, Dr. Proctor’s tenure was marked by creativity, innovation, and school growth. Archives
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4254 Colonial Avenue
Roanoke, Virginia 24018 540-989-6641 • (540) 989-7299 (FAX) HOURS: M-F; 8AM-4PM |
North Cross School is an independent, coeducational, college-preparatory day school founded in 1944 and governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees.
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