Coronavirus Response & Resources

Dear Laurence Families, 

Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) announced that they will enter into a post-surge period as of 12:01 AM on Wednesday, February 16th. Importantly, this means that the outdoor masking requirement for TK-12 schools will be lifted. Accordingly, Laurence will modify our outdoor masking policies based upon the newly updated LACDPH public health protocol (per LACDPH, we are still required to maintain the indoor mask mandate).

We will implement an optional* outdoor mask wearing policy, and students will be allowed to remove their masks when outside at recess, PE, lunch, and athletic games.  Students and staff are welcome to continue wearing masks outdoors, should they choose.

*Please note that students under modified quarantine will continue to be required to wear a mask at all times, both indoors and outdoors, except while actively eating or drinking.

At this time, students (and guests) will still be required to wear their masks during large/high density outdoor events, such as RWB&G assemblies. Laurence School, at its discretion, may require outdoor masking in additional circumstances to continue to protect the health and safety of our beloved community. 

We will continue to make adjustments to our protocols based on updated guidance and evolving public health conditions. We thank you for your continued support and understanding of the complexities of keeping our campus open for in-person learning while balancing the physical and social-emotional well-being of our students, faculty, and staff. 

Warmly,

Laurie Wolke
Head of School

Dear Laurence Community,

In light of the low positivity rate on campus paired with the promising decrease in both the LA County COVID positivity rate and case counts, we are delighted to begin welcoming fully vaccinated parents back to campus in February!  We acknowledge that these past two years and the recent Omicron surge have been very challenging and frustrating for all of us. Your patience, love, and understanding during this challenging time are truly appreciated. 

*Please note that our plans are subject to change if public health conditions warrant.*

Updated Protocols 

As always, the health and safety of our community is a paramount priority. In anticipation of parents' return to campus, we want to remind you of important updates to our protocols.  

• All parents/guests are required to wear upgraded (KN95 or N95), well-fitting, non-cloth masks with a nose wire at all times while on campus, per updated LACDPH recommendations. 

• All parents/guests on campus must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. 

• We strongly encourage parents/guests to obtain a COVID-19 booster shot before returning back on campus. If you have not already done so, please send proof of your COVID booster, if eligible, to healthoffice@laurenceschool.com.  

On-Campus Opportunities for Fully Vaccinated Parents

• Hot lunch volunteers will resume on Tuesday, February 1st.
• Home athletic games may have parents and current Laurence siblings in attendance starting Tuesday, February 1st. All games will be held outdoors at this time.
• Snack Bar volunteers will resume on Thursday, February 3rd. 
• RWB&G Assemblies will resume as of Friday, February 4th, with a limited number of parents in attendance, as follows:
  • February 4- Parents of students receiving birthday ribbons (birthdays from Jan. 1- February 10)
  • February 11- 6th grade parents, and parents of students receiving birthday ribbons
  • February 25- 3rd & 5th grade parents, and parents of students receiving birthday ribbons 
  • March 4- Kindergarten & 4th grade parents, and parents of students receiving birthday ribbons 
  • March 18- 1st & 2nd grade parents, and parents of students receiving birthday ribbons

As always, our protocols are in alignment with mandates from the LACDPH that we must follow.

• Reopening Protocols for K-12 Schools: Appendix T1
• COVID-19 Exposure Management Plan Guidance in TK-12 Schools: Appendix T2

***

We look forward to welcoming back our parent community to once again share in on-campus life at Laurence! 

Warmly,
Laurie

The health and safety of our community remains of paramount importance to us. As we continue to focus on providing a safe campus and learning environment for our students, staff and community to flourish, Laurence will be aligning with LACDPH guidance and requiring all students be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, effective as of summer camp 2022 (as previously communicated, all employees are already required to be fully vaccinated). This requirement will be a condition of enrollment for the 2022-23 school year and will be part of the enrollment agreement. Only qualified exemptions, such as documented medical exemptions, will be considered.

Laurence School is committed to doing everything we can to keep our campus fully open and operating, and thank you for your continued partnership to ensure the safety of our faculty, staff, and students. 

As we look ahead to the Thanksgiving Break, we are consulting with our Medical Task Force on ways to maximize in-person learning time while also prioritizing keeping our community safe and healthy. Prior to the break, we will be holding in-person parent-teacher conferences on November 19, 22, and 23 for fully vaccinated parents. For those who are not vaccinated or are otherwise unable to attend in person, your conference(s) will take place over Zoom within the scheduled conference days. 

Updated School Calendar:

• Monday, November 29th - No classes and COVID-19 testing for all students, faculty, and staff
• Tuesday, November 30th - Virtual instruction (no in-person classes) for all students; devices will be sent home before Thanksgiving Break
• Wednesday, December 1st- In-person, on-campus instruction resumes
• Thursday, December 2nd - Continuation of our weekly on-campus COVID-19 testing of all students and faculty/staff

Travel:

• Laurence School aligns with LACDPH and CDC guidelines for domestic travel, which recommend that unvaccinated individuals not travel at this time.
• LACDPH recommends that unvaccinated travelers self-quarantine (7 days with a test on day 3-5, or 10 days without a test) following out of state travel.
• Please click on "Read More" to review the CDC's guidelines on out of state and international travel.

I am thrilled to share good news regarding the updated COVID-19 protocol in LA County. Because COVID-19 case and transmission rates have declined sharply (by 40% among children) over the last three weeks, LACDPH has adopted a less restrictive quarantine protocol that is aligned with the CDC and the State of California. Significantly, this means that Laurence will be less likely to have to quarantine an entire classroom or grade level in the event a positive case arises on campus, and we can resume more of our great school activities! (As always, decisions about who must quarantine will be made by officials at the LACDPH.) 

What a pleasure it was to kick off the 2021-2022 school year on September 1st!  Our beautiful campus is once again in bloom with the joy of students' laughter and the magical interaction among students and teachers. 

Like all of you, I wish that COVID-19 was behind us, and we could safely resume living our pre-pandemic lives. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Laurence is dedicated to continuing to implement health and safety protocols on our campus to realize this goal, including weekly testing of all students and staff through at least the month of September. Laurence's overarching goal is to safely keep our campus open for in-person instruction. 

Achieving the goal of consistent on-campus instruction, however, requires our entire community working together inside and outside of school to engage in behavior that minimizes the risk of COVID-19 transmission. As we head into the four-day holiday weekend and beyond, I strongly encourage you to consider the following...

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back on campus soon, with their health and safety as our first priority. To that end, we are requiring a negative COVID-19 PCR test prior to the first day of school for all faculty, staff, and students, regardless of vaccination status. A PCR test must be taken within 48 hours before your child’s return to campus (August 30 test for September 1 start). If we have not received and confirmed proof of the negative PCR test result, your child will unfortunately be unable to attend school until we have received and processed their negative test result. Laurence School will hold on-campus testing on Monday, August 30th. For more details and to sign up for the August 30th on-campus testing, please check your email inbox for the communication that was sent today.

It has been such a joy seeing so many of our students back on campus! The sounds of children laughing and playing continues to fuel us and make us smile through our masks. For those who are participating in our in-person learning, I hope your children are as thrilled to be back on campus as we are to have them! Additionally, educators are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and we are grateful to have access to this additional way of keeping our community safe. Things continue to look up! Please see below for several important updates:

Additional Days for Upper Division Students
We continue to proceed forward with caution and thoughtfulness, as we move toward our overall goal of getting all of our students safely back on campus every day, and keeping our campus open. Utilizing our staggered-in approach has enabled us to problem solve and ensure that we are doing everything as safely and carefully as possible, prioritizing the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and families.

Now that we have operated successfully with additional upper division students on campus, we are ready to bring back more grade levels at one time! The week of March 8th, we will be adding a third on-campus day for 4th and 5th grade students. The week of March 15th, every upper grade level (3rd-6th) will be on campus four days per week. Please check your email for the schedules.

Los Angeles County has announced that schools are allowed to open for in-person learning for TK-6th Grade. This is incredibly exciting news, and we know you are anxious to find out what the next steps are for Laurence!  

Our overall goal is to get all of our students safely back on campus every day, and to keep our campus open.  Thus far, our plans have been careful, deliberate, and successful, while prioritizing the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and families.  We will continue to move forward with the same caution and thoughtfulness.  Our operations continue to be limited by strict public health mandates, including physical distancing, cohorting, and density on campus, as well as newly-announced guidelines.  

Starting next Monday, February 22nd, we will be moving forward with a staggered-in approach, adding an additional grade level on campus each day (and ceasing sports conditioning).

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) did not extend their recommendation to keep schools closed beyond the end of January.  Likewise, Governor Newsom lifted the statewide Stay at Home order.  Given this, along with the downward trend of the metrics, we will move forward with bringing K-2 back on campus full time, starting February 8th.  Additionally, under the 25% "high need" allowance, we will be staggering in on-campus opportunities for our 3rd-6th grade students, with one upper grade level on campus per day.  Additionally, LACDPH has indicated that they will be adjusting their cohorting guidelines to match those of California state, which will provide us more flexibility in the number of students we can have in a classroom.  While we are still unable to have all of K-6 on campus at the same time, this is an important next step in getting our kids back to school!

Welcome back! I hope that your children had an enjoyable first week back from Winter Break. While we look forward to welcoming students back to campus, unfortunately, COVID-19 case counts in Los Angeles are still rising, and the hospitals are overwhelmed. This past Thursday, Los Angeles County Public Health (LACDPH) Director, Barbara Ferrer, issued a strong recommendation that all TK - 12 schools suspend all on-campus activity through the end of January. The health and safety of our community remains our number one priority, and consequently we will be following this recommendation and pausing all on-campus activities for an additional week, through January 29th. It is our hope that we will be able to resume in-person learning at the beginning of February for our K-2 students, and also move forward with additional on-campus opportunities for our 3-6 students.

Dear Laurence Families,

I hope that you are having a relaxing Winter Break with your loved ones.  A new year is upon us, and with it, bringing hope for happier, healthier, and more enjoyable times for all.  

As all of us are aware, the COVID-19 situation in LA County remains critical, with case numbers still surging, a regional stay-at-home order, a hospital bed shortage, and anticipated additional fallout from holiday travel and gatherings.  In consultation with our medical task force and keeping in mind a variety of factors, including numerous positive cases in the community as well as local hospitalizations, ICU capacity, oxygen availability, and positivity rates, we have made the decision to stay completely virtual through the end of the week of January 18. While this may not be the news that you were hoping for, I trust that you understand the difficult circumstances and the need for us to protect our faculty, staff, and entire school community.

Welcome back! I hope that your children had an enjoyable first week back from Winter Break.  While we look forward to welcoming students back to campus, unfortunately, COVID-19 case counts in Los Angeles are still rising, and the hospitals are overwhelmed. This past Thursday, Los Angeles County Public Health (LACDPH) Director, Barbara Ferrer, issued a strong recommendation that all TK - 12 schools suspend all on-campus activity through the end of January. The health and safety of our community remains our number one priority, and consequently we will be following this recommendation and pausing all on-campus activities for an additional week, through January 29th.  It is our hope that we will be able to resume in-person learning at the beginning of February for our K-2 students, and also move forward with additional on-campus opportunities for our 3-6 students.

Since reopening our campus to students in late October, we have done everything possible to keep our school community safe, by continuing to follow or exceed the strict guidelines from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH), in consultation with our medical task force.  Last week, Los Angeles County issued a revised targeted Safer at Home order, in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases and the declining ICU capacities in our area hospitals. Given all the circumstances, we believe that it is prudent for us to be consistent with the intent of the Safer at Home order and to do our part to help slow the spread of COVID-19 during this extreme surge.  To that end, we have decided to close our campus to all student activities (K-2 in-person instruction and 3-6 sports conditioning) for the week of December 14th.  All instruction will be remote for K-6th grade, and sports conditioning is cancelled.  We are asking all families, K-6, to sign up for a supply pickup next week, running December 15-17. Families with a K-2 student will be able to pick up supplies on either Wednesday or Thursday next week.

Dear Laurence Families,

I can hardly believe that it is already December!  While this year most certainly looks different than most, there is still so much to be thankful for.  And we at Laurence are grateful for the opportunities we have, both virtual and in-person, to safely spend time with your beautiful children. As the holidays approach and the shorter days set in, we look forward to spreading some holiday cheer with a Winter Spirit Week, starting on December 14th and culminating with an all-school Family Holiday Party on December 18th!  You will find more details about these festivities below.  

First, however, I want to address health and safety during the upcoming months.