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With safer facilities, robust technology, academic creativity, and community vigilance, Trinity launches into a successful 2020-21 school year In a summer missive to member schools, Donna Orem, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), summed up the situation for every institution in the country: “Lacking a crystal ball, we can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for multiple possible futures.” For Trinity this meant enabling facilities to handle constantly evolving public health restrictions related to COVID-19. Classrooms were cleared of more than half of their desks and other furniture. Contractors began work on renovating the two cramped bathrooms in the main Academic Building, enlarging them, removing doors, raising ceilings, adding all contactless facilities and improving airflow. HVAC systems were equipped with Rene-Halo systems throughout the campus, combining UV light, zinc oxide and dual ionizers that help to destroy bacteria, fungi, spores, and viruses on room surfaces and in the air. But facilities were just the first step. A Reopening Task Force of 16 faculty and staff met weekly via videoconference to consider what reopening school under a global pandemic would mean for health and safety, academics, technology, communications and school life. An academic group working closely with teachers proposed a modified daily schedule in early July. To minimize the number of students in a given classroom or building, the student body was assigned to one of two groups — one on campus and one off campus, with each group switching places every two days. This Parallel Model of instruction meant teachers would teach the half of their students in the classroom with them — as well as the other half participating at home via videoconference — at the same time. Preparing for this fall required nearly round-the-clock work from Trinity’s talented team of technology professionals, installing iPads, rolling cameras and other infrastructure needed to keep everyone online and connected.
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After an extended Faculty Work Week and Orientation Week for all students that emphasized new safety rules and procedures, Trinity opened its doors for the first day of classes on Monday, August 31, 2020. “I’m so happy to be back in the classroom with our students,” said Diane Vaughan Monaco ’81, math teacher in mid-September. “Parallel instruction has its unique challenges; encouraging everyone to participate, making sure we’re all seeing the same thing in the classroom and at home, and juggling the technology is all new. But each day it gets easier!” With visitors not allowed on campus, and limitations to the sharing of food and other items, traditions like the Back to School Cookout had to be postponed or canceled altogether. However, one of the oldest fall traditions of all, the Freshman Class Retreat, was able to continue thanks to the counselors of Camp Horizon, who traveled to Richmond and facilitated two days of bonding and socially distanced team-building games at nearby Robious Landing Park. The need to be creative, adaptable and resilient has also extended onto the athletic fields, which sat empty and perfectly green for much of the spring and summer. Although practices officially began the second week of September, the leagues in which the Titans compete had agreed not to begin competition until October 1 at the earliest, and even then, only with the two sports deemed “low risk” (cross country and tennis). “Guiding students to develop their talents and strengthen their character through physical activity and competition is an important component of our mission,” Athletic Director Anna Prillaman and Head of School Rob Short wrote in a joint letter to families. “Therefore, even if competitive opportunities become more limited this fall, Trinity is committed to providing ways for students to engage in physical activity that emphasizes a team experience.”
