Pingry Better Together 2021-22

As we communicated in the May webinar, we are better together, and it is our goal for our students, faculty and staff to be back in person full-time for the coming school year. Students will be expected to be on-campus, in-person every day. When students are too ill to attend school in-person or need to miss school for other reasons, they should report an excused absence and work with their teachers to make up any missed work.

Remote learning will only be available to students who need to miss school due to COVID-related circumstances (e.g. isolation or quarantine) in which case absences will be preplanned for specific periods of time. Such arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis with the appropriate Division office.

Updated Policy for 2021-22 School Year Campus Visitors (Effective Friday, October 1, 2021)

(NOTE: The “proof of vaccination” below is only considered valid if at least two weeks have passed since the last dose of the vaccine.)

For all three campuses during all hours (no difference between during-school hours or after school hours):

Outdoor Events 

• No mask requirement

• No proof-of-vaccination requirement

• No PCR or pooled testing requirements

Indoor Events

• Admittance by invitation and appointment with an RSVP via this form

• Masks must be worn at all times 

• Proof of full vaccination required (no PCR test required), via the Docket app or physical vaccine card, if eligible per standard authorization

  • Pingry will accept pre-approved medical exemptions when below criteria is met:

    • Letter from a doctor on physician's letterhead stating the specific reason for exemption (administered by a treating physician licensed in the state of New Jersey)

    • Medical exemptions will only be accepted by a member of the Health and Safety team in advance; No medical exemptions will be accepted at the door/time of the event

    • Pre-approved medical exemptions must also be accompanied by a negative PCR test result from a test administered within 72 hours of the campus visit

• If a visitor is under the age of 12, and therefore ineligible for a COVID-19 vaccine at this time, a negative PCR test result from a test administered within 72 hours of their visit to campus must be provided to the Health and Safety team.

• At this time, Pingry cannot support long-term volunteers (i.e., Bear Pause and Library Volunteers).

Visitors/Vendors Working Closely with Pingry Students (i.e., college representatives, guest speakers, prepare.inc.):

• Must show proof of vaccination; and 

• Must provide a negative PCR test (taken independently from the Pingry testing pool), regardless of whether they work with students indoors or outdoors. 

Visitors/Vendors NOT Working Closely with Pingry Students:

• Must show proof of vaccination, regardless of their working indoors or outdoors.

•  No PCR test required.

Proof of vaccination will be checked at the following entrances of each campus:

• Basking Ridge: Clocktower Entrance

• Short Hills: Front Entrance

• Pottersville: Main Building

Any guest who does not satisfy the above criteria, or who presents an antigen or non-PCR test will not be permitted to enter a Pingry building. The updated COVID-19 testing calendar can be found below.
 

Winter Athletics Spectator Policy (added November 22, 2021)

• No visiting team spectators will be permitted at Pingry.

• Spectators must be fully vaccinated and immediate household members of a Pingry student-athlete of the team scheduled for competition that day.  

• Pingry will grant pre-approved medical exemptions if a guest provides 

  • A letter from a treating physician licensed in the State of New Jersey. This letter must be written on physician's letterhead, stating the specific exemption AND 

  • Results of a negative PCR test administered within 72 hours of the campus visit.

• Spectators in an age group that has yet to receive standard authorization from the FDA and are unvaccinated must provide results of a negative PCR test administered within 72 hours of the campus visit. 

• Spectators must wear a mask inside at all times.

• Spectators of events held in the BAC (Squash, Fencing, Wrestling) will enter through the Front Entrance.

• Spectators of athletic events held in the Main Building (Basketball and Swim) will enter through the Athletics Entrance.

• Spectators are to remain in the Athletics Wing and may not walk into hallways or classrooms. 

• Each student-athlete is allowed up to four guests per competition to attend in person.

  • Community members (i.e. Pingry students or Pingry employees) will not count as a guest.

• Away competitions and off-site competitions (i.e., skiing and hockey) will follow the rules provided by the opposing school or sporting venue.

The Short Hills Campus will continue to use both the front and back entrances for drop-off and pick-up. The Basking Ridge Campus will adopt multiple points of entry. Student ID cards will allow them to access their preferred entrance at permitted times throughout the day. Temperature check stations at drop-off will be discontinued.

The current expectation is that we will have a full athletic calendar with minimal changes to protocols. Spectator policies for indoor events will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Students: Once the first COVID-19 vaccination receives standard authorization for use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pingry will require vaccine-eligible students to become fully vaccinated within eight weeks. We expect that there will be a different timeline of standard authorization for each age group (16+, 12-15, 5-11). Religious and/or medical exemptions will be permitted and honored.

Employees: Pingry will require all vaccine-eligible employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021-22 school year. All vaccine-eligible employees must be fully vaccinated by October 1, 2021. Religious and/or medical exemptions will be permitted and honored.

We encourage families to consult with their health care provider if they have any questions or concerns about the vaccine. Please click here for a conversation with Dr. Thomas Murray, Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Disease) at Yale School of Medicine.

 

Policy for 2022-2023 Academic Year

Vaccination Policy for Students: 

Effective July 1, 2022, as a condition of continued enrollment at Pingry, all vaccine-eligible students must be fully vaccinated within eight weeks of the first COVID-19 vaccination receiving standard approval for use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their age group.

Medical or religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination will continue to be available. However, all exemptions will need to be resubmitted and approved annually. Please reach out to healthandsafety@pingry.org if you have questions about exemptions. The 2021-2022 transitional exemption that allowed students who are eligible for an FDA-approved vaccination, but are not fully vaccinated and do not have a religious or medical exemption, to attend school, but not extra-curricular activities, will not be offered in 2022-2023.

Please note, while standard FDA approval for ages 16+ has so far only been issued for the vaccine from Pfizer-Biontech, Pingry will consider anyone to be fully vaccinated who has received all the recommended doses, and completed the appropriate subsequent waiting period, of any vaccine authorized for use by the FDA in United States. Currently that includes the vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Looking ahead, we expect that standard FDA approval will be issued for additional vaccines and age groups over the coming months. Once standard FDA approval has been granted for a specific age group, the above policy will apply to those age groups as well.

While we continue to encourage all members of our community to become vaccinated as soon as they are eligible for a vaccine under at least emergency use authorization, Pingry has no plans to make any changes to our existing vaccination policies for the remainder of 2021-2022.

Vaccination Policy for Employees:

There will be no change from 2021-22 COVID-19 Vaccination Policy for employees. Pingry will continue to require all vaccine-eligible employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of October 11, 2021, all vaccine-eligible Pingry employees are fully vaccinated. As we welcome new employees to our community, our vaccination expectations and timeline will apply.
 

Short Hills Campus

• Short Hills students will continue to test twice per week.

• Short Hills employees will be required to test once per week, on the first testing cycle of each week.

• Short Hills employees may opt into the second test cycle later in the week.

Basking Ridge Campus

• All employees and students will be required to test once per week, on the first testing cycle of each week.

• Due to mixed COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, Grade 6 students may opt into the second testing cycle later in the week. For those students who wish to participate in the optional second testing cycle, the test collection will be available at the Middle School Entrance.

• Employees may opt into the second test cycle later in the week.

Individuals who miss a test collection cycle will not be allowed on campus for the corresponding campus access window until they have obtained a PCR lab report indicating a negative result. The updated COVID-19 testing calendar for each campus  can be found at the bottom of this page.

If your child is vaccinated, you will be required to submit proof of vaccination as communicated at the end of July. This will be used to determine the School's overall vaccination status, identify individuals who will need to continue weekly testing, and to contact trace. You may upload your child's vaccination card directly to your Magnus Health Portal, accessible via the Pingry Parent Portal.

At this point in time, Pingry-issued masks must be properly worn indoors, at all times, regardless of vaccination status. Our masking policy will follow the most up-to-date guidance from the CDC and our state and local departments of health and is subject to change at any time. An individual who does not follow mask protocols will be sent home. Additional follow-up will be handled by the appropriate Dean, if needed.

No. We will no longer require students or faculty to complete the daily, pre-arrival health screening form. If your child is experiencing a temperature of 100℉ or higher or other related symptoms that indicate your child should stay home, please keep them home.

No. We will no longer have temperature checks at the entrance to school. However, as above, if your child is experiencing a temperature of 100℉ or higher or other related symptoms that indicate your child should stay home, please keep them home. In cases where a student must return home, Pingry is only allowed to release that student to an “authorized pick-up individual” as indicated in Veracross. Please be sure to update your pre-approved list in Veracross as instructed.

Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 will still need to isolate at home for a minimum of ten days.

The protocol for Quarantines is as follows

    •    Vaccinated individuals are all exempt from contact tracing unless they are symptomatic

    •    For those that are not vaccinated, contact tracing protocols are currently the same as those we had last year (7-day quarantine if contact traced)
. 
*Note that the duration of the quarantine will be dictated by the NJ Department of Health CALI Score at the time of close contact.

NJDOH is looking at adopting the latest CDC guidelines on contact tracing in schools and the above policy may well change, prior to or after the start of school.

Sensors were an important tool to help with the contact tracing process last year. With the changing requirements on contact tracing and social distancing we are currently evaluating the use of sensors for the upcoming academic year. The school will wait to observe the results from the month of re-entry testing (September) before deciding on the requirements for contact tracing sensors.

As of May 17, 2021, New Jersey's travel advisory is no longer in effect. For domestic travel, the Pingry School will not require vaccinated or unvaccinated community members to quarantine. For international travel, we encourage our community members to follow all relevant CDC guidelines. 

Yes we will continue to post and update the dashboard after every testing cycle.

The sick policy has remained the same. If a student is sick for three consecutive days or longer, they must provide a doctor’s note including a diagnosis and plan of care, and also be symptom- and fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. If an athletic trainer, school nurse, or counselor deem a physician referral necessary, written communication from the physician’s office will be required. The student will not be allowed to return to activity without written medical clearance from their physician’s office. The physician or healthcare provider should have no personal or familial relationship to the student. Please refer to the Health & Medical Policies section of the Student Handbook for more information.

Yes. In accordance with Pingry’s current mask policy, outlined here, on the Better Together page, masks must be worn at all times while riding Pingry/partner buses and inside Pingry buildings. Further, in accordance with the State of New Jersey’s 2021-2022 guidance for schools, The Road Forward, the following also applies: 

“School buses should be considered school property for the purpose of determining the need for prevention strategies. Masks must be worn by all passengers on buses, regardless of vaccination status per CDC’s Federal Order.”

The dress code for the 2021-22 school year can be found here.

We recognize that for students who have been learning remotely during the 2021-21 school year, the transition back to in-person learning in the fall is significant. Additionally, many students continue to navigate and process the many changes and upheaval wrought by the pandemic. In order to address our students' needs, whatever they may be, Pingry's counseling staff will be available throughout the summer to support students and their families.  Faculty and staff will also receive mental health training prior to the start of the 2021-22 school year. Please reach out to a member of the Counseling Department if you have any questions or concerns at any time.

Dr. Alyssa Johns, Assistant Lower School Director of Social and Emotional Wellness

Dr. Julie O'Rourke, Academic and Social-Emotional Specialist

Ms. Maurisa Thomas, Middle and Upper School Counselor

Pingry is working to modify lunch service and will resume pre-COVID norms, for the 2021-22 academic year. Self-serve stations, including make-your-own salads and pasta bars,will be reinstated. Grab-and-go options will continue to exist for those who don't wish to line up for lunch and will be placed at convenient locations. 

At our Basking Ridge Campus, we will move back to primarily using the Engel dining area to serve lunch and we will also utilize outdoor tents to accommodate students and keep them spaced out. Having heard your feedback, we will no longer have pre-packaged hot food, and both dining options will have stations that serve hot food

At our Short Hills Campus, we will move back to primarily using the Chen dining area to serve lunch and will have overflow seating in Corvino Commons to keep students spaced out. We will be serving hot food via serving stations and pre-packaged cold food. 

Yes, we will continue to have assigned seating in classrooms.

Yes, locker rooms will be open and accessible to all individuals next year.

No. Lower School students will continue to have their classes scheduled by homerooms.

Yes, Pingry’s Short Hills Campus plans to continue offering these programs in the fall. Beforecare will be available from 7:00 a.m. to 7:50 a.m., and Aftercare will be available from 3:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. These times have been extended from prior years to allow greater flexibility for families. Enrichment programs will begin in October and information on those offerings will be available closer to the start date. Additional information can be found on our Beforecare, Aftercare, Enrichment page.

October 15, 2021

Dear Parents/Guardians of Pingry Students,

I am writing to you today with important updates to Pingry’s COVID-19 vaccination policy for the 2022-23 academic year.

Vaccination Policy for Students:
Effective July 1, 2022, as a condition of continued enrollment at Pingry, all vaccine-eligible students must be fully vaccinated within eight weeks of the first COVID-19 vaccination receiving standard approval for use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their age group.

Medical or religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination will continue to be available. However, all exemptions will need to be resubmitted and approved annually. Please reach out to healthandsafety@pingry.org if you have questions about exemptions. The 2021-2022 transitional exemption that allowed students who are eligible for an FDA-approved vaccination, but are not fully vaccinated and do not have a religious or medical exemption, to attend school, but not extra-curricular activities, will not be offered in 2022-2023.

Please note, while standard FDA approval for ages 16+ has so far only been issued for the vaccine from Pfizer-Biontech, Pingry will consider anyone to be fully vaccinated who has received all the recommended doses, and completed the appropriate subsequent waiting period, of any vaccine authorized for use by the FDA in United States. Currently that includes the vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Looking ahead, we expect that standard FDA approval will be issued for additional vaccines and age groups over the coming months. Once standard FDA approval has been granted for a specific age group, the above policy will apply to those age groups as well.

While we continue to encourage all members of our community to become vaccinated as soon as they are eligible for a vaccine under at least emergency use authorization, Pingry has no plans to make any changes to our existing vaccination policies for the remainder of 2021-2022.

Vaccination Policy for Employees:
There will be no change from 2021-22 COVID-19 Vaccination Policy for employees. Pingry will continue to require all vaccine-eligible employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of October 11, 2021, all vaccine-eligible Pingry employees are fully vaccinated. As we welcome new employees to our community, our vaccination expectations and timeline will apply.

Although no one can predict what the next nine months will bring, we are communicating this policy to you today to provide you with as much clarity as possible for the coming year as you consider the educational options available to your children.

Thank you in advance for your continued support as we strive to create the safest environment possible for our community to remain better together. 

Sincerely,

Cindy McArthur P ’29

Director of Operations and Auxiliary Programs