In his weekly Parent Connect email to the SLUH community, Principal Ian Gibbons, S.J. recently announced that student-athletes would not have to continue learning virtually while awaiting the results from their required biweekly tests. 

Gibbons and the rest of the SLUH Board made the decision because of how confident they were in the SLUH community and the discipline it has displayed thus far when it comes to staying safe and distanced. 

“We have been following a playbook for reopening the school that was designed last summer. Data drives our decisions to move forward to the next steps. We knew that tabling the cohorts in January would require quick action for contact tracing, as three-feet distancing in the classrooms was the new rule. An asymptomatic positive case in class could result in a dozen or more quarantines. However, if we could post very low asymptomatic positive cases from sports testing over the period of several months, we would then look at removing the quarantines from testing,” said Gibbons. “Our positivity rate and asymptomatic case counts were low and dropping January through March, so we targeted a shift in policy after two rounds of spring sports testing. This point occurred right after Easter break.”

The change, while moving in a positive direction, does come with added risk. However, Gibbons trusts that the data and low number of cases the SLUH community has posted so far will transfer well in this step towards normalcy. 

“The risk is the potential for an asymptomatic positive infecting a swath of close contacts in classrooms and around the campus.  The benefit is ending two days of quarantine for 550 spring athletes every two weeks,” said Gibbons. “If students are contracting the virus from the sports testing change, we couldn't maintain this policy. If students are not contracting the virus due to few asymptomatic positive results, removing those 1,100 quarantine days every fortnight would be quite a coup. This decision had to be driven by data, of course.” 

The reaction from student-athletes has been positive, as they are overjoyed to be able to return to school and engage in real classroom settings on a more consistent basis. 

“Obviously being back in school has given me back my sense of accountability. I’m not gonna lie there have been times where I’m at home in class with my camera off either making a bowl of cereal or playing Xbox,” said senior Peter Quinn. “That takes away from the actual school side of it. Also I can easily look up questions for a quiz or an in class homework assignment. However, now my habits of studying and actually doing the work have gotten a lot better. Also getting to see teachers in school rather than through a screen is obviously better for my overall learning because it is a better environment and much easier to communicate any discrepancies with.” 

While the change is great for students because it brings the SLUH community closer together as a student body and allows for more interaction with friends and a more encouraging academic environment, there are some risks SLUH is taking on by making this move. It will require the communication on any symptoms or signs of Covid-19 to be impeccable. 

“I'm quite proud of SLUH. In all my conversations with leaders at other schools locally and all around the country, it is clear that SLUH is at the front of the pack in reopening safely. I take a lot of oscillating criticism—I'm  being too bold or I'm being too cautious,” said Gibbons. “I try to be like Goldilocks and get it right. My pandemic response team is smart, focussed, data-driven, and deeply committed to reopening SLUH and St. Louis safely and impactfully. Our results speak for the good work we are doing.”