COVID-19 Information

On Friday, July 17, Governor Newsom held a press conference and announced that schools may resume on-campus instruction as long as their county has been off of the California COVID-19 watch list for fourteen consecutive days. As you know, Los Angeles is still on that list so if we were to resume school today we would not be able to do so on-campus and would need to begin online. 

Our hybrid plan allows us to get our students on campus for all of their classes two days in a row—one blue day and one gold day—and then has them at home learning on-line synchronously in “real-time” for three days. Cohorts are arranged alphabetically according to last name so that siblings are on campus for the same two days each week—either Monday and Tuesday for Cohort 1 or Thursday and Friday for Cohort 2. Given the number of families we must accommodate we are unable to arrange Cohorts according to carpools or other individual requests. Students will be advised of their Cohort when they receive their class schedule in August.

Our hybrid plan allows students to have some time on-campus learning and socializing with peers each week, ensures that every student is meeting every day in real-time with teachers either in person or online, allows for students to have additional access to teachers outside of class time, provides enough space for physical distancing, builds in time for frequent cleaning and sanitizing throughout the school day, and provides time for our maintenance team to perform deeper cleaning and campus disinfection in between the two student cohort visits to campus. It also allows students to have five consecutive days at home (counting the weekend) in between their times on campus, which provides a cushion in the event that they, or a close family member, needs to be tested and await COVID-19 results. The plan also contains a full-time online option for the fall semester for students who have preexisting health conditions.You may review our health and safety protocols by clicking here.

Our hybrid plan has been developed in collaboration with the administrative team, department chairs, and Holy Cross principals throughout the country, and has been approved by the NDHS Board of Directors. We will continue planning--and hoping--for a hybrid return to campus, but with the full understanding that unless Los Angeles County is off the California COVID-19 watch list for fourteen consecutive days, we will begin school online. Please be assured that we will switch to the hybrid plan as soon as Los Angeles County is fourteen days off of the watch list, and as long as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health advises us that it is still safe to return. 

We will begin meeting with faculty (online or in-person depending on “watch list status”) on Monday, August 17 to prepare for the new school year. We then hope to welcome our freshman class of 2024 to campus for orientation starting on Wednesday, August 19 through Friday, August 21, stretching out freshman orientation and freshman parent orientation over the course of three days and running it in smaller groups. Again, if we have not cleared the fourteen consecutive days off the watch list, we will hold on-line versions of these programs.

We will be inviting all students in grades 9-12 to make appointments to come to campus--please wear masks and practice appropriate physical distancing--between August 3 and August 13 so they can have their photo taken for their ID photo cards. The ID cards will contain a barcode that students may use to purchase items in the cafeteria. We hope that this “contactless” payment process will reduce the exchange of money on campus and assist in reducing the spread of germs.

Instruction for all returning students in grades 9-12 begins on August 27 and 28 and all students will be online for those first two days, with the possibility that freshmen will remain on campus those two days for additional learning.  We then move into our hybrid plan beginning Monday, August 31, again, as long as we are fourteen days cleared from the watch list. Please be advised that this hybrid program will create significant expenses for the school, including additional staffing and costs associated with the implementation of necessary health and safety protocols, but we are committed to doing all we can to create a safe learning environment for our students and faculty, while also maintaining the integrity of our academic program. Our returning families are already familiar with our protocols for online classes and online frequently asked questions, but new families may be interested in reviewing them here.

We are asking parents to indicate whether they want their student(s) to participate in the hybrid plan or the distance learning (online only) plan for the fall semester once we have been cleared to return to campus. If you choose the distance learning (online only) plan for your child(ren) you do not need to commit for the entire fall semester; we will provide several designated opportunities for you to switch over to the hybrid plan. If you sign up for the hybrid plan, you may switch to a distance learning plan at any time should your child (or another member of your family) develop symptoms, need to quarantine, or become ill—whether that is a result of COVID-19 or another illness. Given the changes and fluid nature of this situation, families may wait until August 14 to select either the hybrid plan or distance learning (on-line) plan. You will be asked to register your choice via the Magnus portal, and a notification will be sent to you in a separate email this evening prompting you to do so. Please be advised that the entire campus will be fully on-line until Los Angeles County is off of the California Covid-19 watch list for fourteen consecutive days and the Department of Public Health advises that it is safe to reopen.   

We are updating the COVID-19 Information section of the school website and will post this Return to Learning Plan and the Hybrid Learning Plan, various protocols, and all updates there. In addition, we will post other COVID-19 resources that might be helpful to students and families. We appreciate your patience as we update this section and work to reopen the campus. We realize that there is no one plan that will satisfy all families, and we appreciate your continued support. We also realize that this is a lot of information to process, and we want to assure you that more details and reminders will be sent directly to students, parents, and faculty with information that is unique and relevant to each of those specific groups over the next few weeks.