The St. Louis U. High community was greeted by an unexpected email from Principal Ian Gibbons, SJ on Friday, Dec. 31 announcing that SLUH would be going virtual for at least the week following Christmas break. This virtual switch resulted in students receiving the day off on Monday and Tuesday and attending class from the comfort of their own homes over Zoom Wednesday through Friday. 

This move to a virtual buffer week is not a new addition. In academic year 2020-21, the school hosted two buffer weeks—one after Thanksgiving break and one after Christmas break—where the entire student body participated in online, synchronous classes. These weeks were intended to provide a mandatory quarantine stint for all  students who had traveled over break or saw family members, activities that could have caused exposure to Covid-19.

“Those two virtual weeks served us well,” said Gibbons. “It works seamlessly, resulting in no spread on campus, so that playbook was very clearly impactful.”

In August of 2021, the administration announced its safety plan for Academic year 2021-22, outlining four different “conditions” of safety measures ranging from Condition IV (a return to hybrid learning) to Condition I (fewer safety protocols). The pivot to each condition is determined by a variety of numerical factors including regional positivity rate and monthly school case numbers. 

With the recent spike in nationwide cases due to the emergence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, reported SLUH cases began to rise on Dec. 20. Since then, there have been over 74 positive student cases, a new all-time high for the school. Previously, the highest recorded number of cases in one month was November of 2021, when the school recorded 38 positive cases. 

“There's a lot we do not know about the Omicron variant since it is still so new,” said Gibbons. “There are theories that it is less virulent, but much more spreadable. And that would be good news, but we do not have the data to back that up right now so we didn’t want to take a gamble.”

Ultimately, the administration decided on the pivot through an understanding of the high case numbers and a desire to protect the students, faculty, and staff from the dangerous uncertainty of the virus.

“We are seeing a tremendous spike in hospitalizations, especially for younger people. That is a  concern to us,” said Gibbons. “The highest level of regional hospitalizations for the city and county of  juveniles and children was 31 at one time, we're at 54 right now. We do not definitively know that this is simply not going to be as virulent as some are saying.”

Despite the cancellation of in person classes, other extracurricular activities such as sports, the Admissions placement tests, and the Grande Project prayer service will still take place, since the risk factor in holding these activities poses a lower transmission risk.  

“When we decided to go virtual, there were these three parts of our mission that we wanted to protect, Grande project, athletics and admissions events,  and to be able to happen on campus,” said Gibbons. “The point is not to have anybody on campus, but to avoid having huge  groups on campus less than three feet apart, or having to have meals together, without masks and things like that.. We wanted one week where we could cut back on those large gatherings.”

Athletic practices and contests may continue as normal as long as regular Covid protocols such as social distancing and ample mask wearing take place. One pandemic rule was reimplemented for the foreseeable future, however: no SLUH athletic team may travel outside of a 100-mile radius to compete. 

While the decision to go virtual was made out of caution for students’ and teachers’ safety, some are voicing concern that returning to virtual learning could have adverse consequences for student learning and social well being. 

“Anytime you're talking to somebody, the direct presence is just so much more powerful and so much more effective (in teaching),” said Latin teacher Rich Esswein. “Guys are missing out on the social interaction that they ought to have in the classroom setting, we are social creatures.”

Two years into the pandemic, most students seem understanding of why such actions must be taken.

 “The switch to virtual makes me feel safe,” said sophomore Tate Townsend. “It seems that a lot of people have Covid and the temporary switch will help stall the spread.”

Many students, however, greatly miss the brotherhood of simply attending class in-person alongside every one of their classmates. 

“We miss out on all of those things that make SLUH so amazing” said sophomore Tim Browdy.

While nobody wanted or expected to have virtual school this past week, Gibbons feels hopeful that students will be able to return to campus next Monday. 

“I am hopeful that we  should be shifting everyone back to campus next Monday,” said Gibbons. “However, that will need to be confirmed by the safety committee on Friday.”

Tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 7, the school’s safety committee, which has determined SLUH’s safety  strategy for the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, will once again meet to determine whether or not SLUH will host in-person classes for the following week. In addition, it will determine if any new safety measures will need to be taken. A decision will be made tomorrow and students and parents will be notified via email from Gibbons in the afternoon.