Head School Shannon Harris popped in the Pre-K classrooms Monday for some one-on-one time with students. By. ANTILLES SCHOOL
ST. THOMAS — Antilles School celebrated its 71st start on Monday, with students across divisions – from toddlers to seniors – being welcomed back by faculty and staff.
“It was wonderful to have children back on our campus,” said Head of School Shannon Harris. “They are why we work at a school. We spent months preparing for this day to ensure the safety of our faculty, staff, students and their families while being physically present. We are looking forward to another productive year and are committed to keeping our School community together.”
Along with mandatory mask-wearing and physical distancing, Antilles’ team worked diligently over the past few weeks to develop a first day of school protocol that includes temperature checks, staggered drop-offs, along with Covid-19 testing for those unvaccinated, according to the release. Antilles is not required to test, but wanted to take advantage of the Department of Health’s offer to do so, particularly as the Delta variant continues to surge. Based on the results, more than 99 percent of students tested negative Monday. Any individuals testing positive immediately left campus and remain in contact with D.O.H., Antilles said.
“With only vaccinated or Covid-tested students and staff on campus, and our commitment to maintaining universal precautions such as masking, distancing, and hand-washing, we are confident that we will be able to continue learning on campus, as we did last year,” stated Ms. Harris.
According to the release, Antilles’ facilities team has also continued to transform campus to allow for students to fully utilize all indoor and outdoor spaces to ensure safe social distancing, maintained hand-sanitizing and hand-washing stations, and other protocols.
