Will School be back to Normal in Fall?

A small sign says “Faculty and Staff ONLY” on the road leading up to the Bergamini Dorm to ensure that visitors stay off-campus for safety reasons due to COVID-19. (Photo: Mr. Terry Deliquadri)

Like the majority of schools in the U.S, Northwood chose to temporarily cease all on-campus activities as the pandemic continues to threaten global health. As of now, no one knows if Northwood will be able to resume normal classes and campus life by the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. Assistant head for School LIfe Mr. John Spear said at a virtual school meeting last week that the school will be open in the fall, but he noted that whether that’s in-person or online depends on the course of the virus.

Ms. Jill Walker, Dean of Faculty, shared her outlook on the upcoming school year. “I hope that we will all be back together again in the fall, but we will need to have a lot more testing ability in this area for that to happen,” Ms. Walker said. “Many scientists around the world are working to come up with a vaccine, and a lot of resources are being made available for this research. So we will have more answers by the time school starts back up. For now, what we have to think about is how we can safely assess and manage the health of our community,” she added.

The start of the next school year depends on how the coronavirus plays out both within Lake Placid and worldwide, and whether a successful vaccine will become available before fall comes.

At the school meeting, Mr. Spear said the school has formed COVID-19 Recovery planning group and more information on their planning process will be available when classes end for the trimester.