March 9, 2020
Dear Menaul School Parents and Guardians,
I will not repeat others’ messages about this infectious disease except to include updated links at the bottom of this letter. Instead I will be focused on specific issues and decisions that directly affect your student. Based on the latest wisdom, we are making prudent decisions to protect Menaul School students. Our community members safety and welfare are our first priorities.
- In partnership with Löwenrot Gymnasium, we have postponed their spring visit to Menaul School scheduled for April.
- Our summer visit to Germany will be postponed to summer 2021
- We have delayed our plans for an Italian G7 simulation conference hosted by Menaul School and organized by the Italian Ministry of Education This would have brought 13 plus Italian students and over 100 internationally oriented New Mexico students together to attempt to resolve many world issues. We intend to reschedule when travel is without strong risk of COVID infection.
- None of our international students are traveling home for spring break. They are traveling with the school or staying in homestays.
- Our mission trips are going as scheduled. We have determined that there is no increased threat traveling or working together during Mission Week.
- Although the decision to close school when COVID-19 does hit New Mexico will probably be determined by the state, if we have a Menaul person with the virus, we will certainly close for a while. Many schools are closing temporarily for deep cleaning and then reopening.
- In the event of school closing, we are preparing the faculty to teach online for whatever duration is required. We have strong technological resources via Skype, Zoom, and Canvas to support a period of distance learning. We need to ensure teachers have their teaching resources saved and that they know how to operate remotely. We will be working on this with the faculty over the next couple weeks. We have been supporting Menaul School Qingdao, our partner school in China, and we are taking lessons from their experiences of doing almost six weeks of school remotely.
- The important things we can do remain around cleanliness and safe contact with others. Beside our regular thorough cleaning by our housekeeping staff, we will be providing cleaning products in each classroom to help disinfect our hard surfaces.
- We are developing summer options for International families that want to keep their children here. There will be more information on that option by the end of the week.
Here is the latest from the New Mexico Department of Health:
Here is a help outline from Eastern New Mexico University shared with me by a current parent:
Thank you for your support! Please contact me with any issues or concerns.
Lindsey R. Gilbert, Jr.
President and Head of School