George School Shares Back-to-School Plans

Head of School Sam Houser shared this email with the George School community:

George School will open for in-person instruction in the fall, provided we are permitted to do so by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as I previously indicated. This includes bringing both boarding and day students to campus.

Having said that, I can also say that while the George School experience will be familiar in many ways, it will also be different given the public health situation that confronts the world. For example, students, faculty, and staff should expect to wear masks for some significant portion of the day. Dining services will be altered to accommodate social distancing protocols, and large gatherings such as assemblies, meetings for worship, and evening study halls will take place with different structures and in multiple locations.

I write today with further information about our planning so that you can begin to plan your late summer and fall. It remains the school’s intention to keep our announced academic calendar, knowing circumstances may dictate that we shift from in-person learning to remote learning.

To accommodate that possibility, George School will adopt a hybrid educational model for the fall that maximizes the amount and quality of time students and teachers have together, whether the students are on the George School campus or on another continent.

I am glad to say, however, that regardless of which learning scenario we engage in, George School’s academics will continue to be of the highest quality, and our community will be connected. This is thanks in no small part to the extraordinary professionalism evidenced by our faculty and staff, and the resilience and trust exhibited by our students and their families.

Please review the information on our Back-to-School web page and know that as our Pandemic Planning Team continues its detailed work, we will be in touch with additional information. We will also publish a comprehensive health and safety protocol for your reference.

While we look forward to the start of school, I am deeply grateful for our relationships—those in which we currently find strength and those being newly formed. The trust placed in the school creates so much of our spirit and character as a learning community. Our ongoing collaboration and partnership will bring George School’s mission forward, into the fall and beyond.