Emerging from a Pandemic School Year | A

Emerging from a Pandemic School Year

A Message from Headmaster Kerry Brennan

What a difference a year makes.

As a school community we have great reason to be glad about and proud of the way that we weathered an especially challenging storm. Guided by the dual goals of maintaining the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, and advancing the school’s program, we collectively did well and continued to affirm our distinction as a community. That reality was thanks to thorough planning; flexibility and creativity; great willingness and dedication; and, frankly, much good luck. I am so grateful to everyone for cooperating and collaborating, for approaching our lives and our participation in school with care and conscientiousness. Each of us made sacrifices for the greater good, and we are all better for it.

This spring we at Roxbury Latin—like the rest of the country—began to see reasons for hope, and we began to take small steps toward the rituals and routines we enjoyed pre-COVID. After beginning this year in a hybrid learning model—with Cohorts A and B alternating weeks in and out of school—we were able to safely bring all members of the senior class back to campus in October for in-person instruction. In the weeks following the winter break, we brought one entire class back each week—with classrooms expanded to include Rousmaniere Hall, the McNay Palaistra, the Gordon Fieldhouse gymnasium, the Great Hall, and even the lobby of the IAF, overlooking Hennessy Rink! Coupled with bi-weekly pool testing of all members of the school community—and unrelenting adherence to the safety and health protocols we established last summer—we were able to be safely reconstituted as a school by mid-February

In March, when vaccines were made available to all educators in Massachusetts, faculty and staff lined up to receive their initial doses inside the IAF. Emotions ranged from laughter to tears, and before the conclusion of the

school year every single member of Roxbury Latin’s faculty and staff was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In May, when the CDC and Governor Baker announced that all individuals age 12+ were eligible to receive the vaccine, we were able to hold a vaccination clinic for our students here

on campus.

While we maintained mask-wearing indoors throughout the school year, we were able to lift the mask mandate on campus for outdoor activities on May 19, just in time for our annual and beloved school-wide May Day. With greater ability to practice and compete safely outdoors, our spring athletic teams enjoyed some semblance of a true season, thanks to League-wide cooperation and weekly testing of all athletes and coaches. On May 20—for the first time since March 2020—we enjoyed live music performances by our students on a picturesque evening on the lawn outside of the Smith Arts Center. And as the year came to a close, we were able to honor our seniors in ways that were familiar—if modified—bringing the entire school together for the first time for Prize Day, and finally celebrating the Class of 2021, in person, on O’Keeffe Field during the school’s 376th Closing Exercises.

I’ve said it before, but I am heartened and deeply grateful to be part of a school community that could face such challenges and adversity with so much grace and resilience, elbow grease and goodwill. These unprecedented 15-months were a reminder that, together, we can get through anything. Thank you. Here’s to a happy, healthy, hope-filled school year ahead. “In March, when vaccines were made available to all educators in Massachusetts, faculty and staff lined up to receive their initial doses inside the IAF. Emotions ranged from laughter to tears, and before the conclusion of the school year every single member of Roxbury Latin’s faculty and staff was fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”