Fall 2022

Students, faculty, and staff MUST stay home if they feel sick—even if their symptoms are mild and they do not test positive on a rapid test. They should remain at home until they are no longer symptomatic. 

Symptoms consistent with COVID-19 include:

• Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• New loss of taste or smell
• Muscle aches or body aches
• Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough)
• Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nausea/vomiting, when in combination with other symptoms
• Headache, when in combination with other symptoms
• Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies), when in combination with other symptoms 

Should any students, faculty, or staff exhibit symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 while at school, they should report to the Front Office. We will then follow the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's guidance for attending to a symptomatic individual in school. Also see "Response to a Symptomatic Individual at School."

COVID-19 Vaccinations and Booster Shots

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Commonwealth has relied on expertise from public health and infectious disease experts as we have implemented health and safety protocols. Consistent with that approach, the school now requires all new and returning students, as well as faculty and staff, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as recommended by the CDC. After consulting with experts, we have decided to strongly encourage, but not require, booster shots. We urge families to consult with their pediatricians about whether and when students should schedule boosters given new variants, prior COVID infections, and/or risk factors. You can check booster shot eligibility on the CDC website. Families can apply for medical or religious exemptions.

Proof of vaccination must be submitted as part of our required back-to-school forms (managed via Magnus Health). Students may not begin classes without these requirements completed.

Flu Vaccinations

All students, faculty, and staff will be required to get a flu shot (influenza vaccination) each year. Parents/guardians can confirm their child received a flu vaccination via Magnus Health. The deadline for doing so is November 1. 

Given the vaccination rate of our community, and in consultation with the epidemiology experts at Fusion Cell, masks will be optional for all Commonwealth students, faculty, and staff, unless they are actively following isolation or quarantine protocols (see “Response to Confirmed Infection”). This policy applies to school visitors and extends to all school happenings and events as well. 

We expect many individuals will continue wearing masks at school, and they will be fully supported in that decision. Students, faculty, and staff should continue to bring a mask to school, should the need to wear one arise. We encourage continued masking on public transportation, per CDC recommendation, as well. 

We remind our community, if and when they are masking, that KN95, KF-94, and similar high-quality masks are the most effective for personal protection. 

When a student, faculty, or staff member—or a member of their household—tests positive for COVID-19, they must inform Stephanie Poynter immediately: spoynter@commschool.org or 617-266-7525. 

Any individual, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, who tests positive for COVID-19 must isolate for a minimum of 5 days, consistent with recommendations from the CDC, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the infectious disease experts consulting the school.

Isolation Protocols for Symptomatic Individuals Who Test Positive

• After isolating for 5 days, symptomatic individuals who tested positive may return to school (on day 6) provided they are symptom free; this includes being fever free (without fever-reducing medication) for at least 24 hours; no longer experiencing any coughing, sneezing, or nasal congestion; and seeing improvement of all other symptoms. 
• For symptomatic individuals, day 0 is the first day of symptoms or a positive test. Day 1 is the first full day after symptoms develop or the test specimen was collected. 
• Individuals do not need a negative test result to return to school. 
• Upon returning to school, individuals must be masked day 6 through day 10.

Isolation Protocols for Asymptomatic Individuals Who Test Positive

• After isolating for 5 days, asymptomatic individuals who tested positive may return to school (on day 6) if they remain symptom free. (If symptoms develop, the individual should follow Isolation Protocols for Symptomatic Individuals Who Test Positive, above.) 
• For asymptomatic individuals, day 0 is the day of the positive test. Day 1 is the first full day after the test specimen was collected. 
• Individuals do not need a negative test result to return to school. 
• Upon returning to school, individuals must be masked day 6 through day 10.

Quarantining

In the event of exposure, whether at home or at school, to an individual with a confirmed infection, we will follow the testing and quarantine response protocols recommended by the CDC and Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

Note, we will ask individuals with a positive household contact to mask for 10 days following their exposure, per CDC recommendations.

Our expectation and exhortation is that students, faculty, and staff stay home if they feel sick. Should an individual develop symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 while at school, they should report to the Front Office. We will then follow guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for attending to a symptomatic individual in school.

Individuals who become symptomatic at school will be given a rapid test. Also see “Response to Confirmed Infection” and “Response to Symptomatic Individual at School.”

We encourage all students, faculty, and staff to test themselves at home if they are symptomatic or if they have been exposed to an individual who tests positive for COVID-19. A reminder, too, that every home in the U.S. is eligible to order free rapid tests through the federal government, and health insurance policies must now cover eight rapid tests per person per month (please contact your provider for details).

Our supplemental air ventilation and filtration practices remain in effect; specifically, the air in our building will be filtered and exchanged via:

• Open windows whenever weather permits
• HEPA filters in every room, including teachers’ offices and bathrooms, which filter out more than 99.9% of all particles 0.1 micron or larger. This includes virtually all virus-carrying particles, including SARS-CoV-2 particles, which average .125 microns. The HEPA filters in our classrooms will add 6 air changes per hour. 
• Our building’s HVAC system, which brings fresh air into the Cafegymnatorium (7 changes per hour), Annex (5 changes per hour), and lobbies and hallways (1-10 changes per hour, depending on the space)

Should public health conditions shift such that the school needs to amend its COVID-19 policies, those changes will be communicated to students, families, faculty, and staff via email and reflected on this page. 

Commonwealth consults the following agencies as our official sources of information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic:

• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
• Massachusetts Department of Health
• NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools)
• AISNE (Association of Independent Schools in New England)
• NEPSAC (New England Preparatory School Athletic Council)

We continue to engage the experts at Fusion Cell, a consultancy with deep experience managing infectious disease risk.

Participation in Commonwealth’s Athletics program remains required of all students. For sports taking place off campus, students will have to comply with any guidelines set forth by the activities’ respective venues and/or leagues. We encourage students and coaches to continue masking on buses transporting them to and from athletic events, consistent with our public transportation recommendations (see “Masking”). Students and families may contact Director of Athletics Jackson Elliott '10 with any questions.

Our student attendance policy remains as outlined in the Parent-Student Handbook: in general, students should not miss school for reasons other than illness or family emergency, and they are expected to attend in person.

Under circumstances when a student is required to quarantine or isolate due to a confirmed COVID-19 infection, or when a student is out sick for more than two days but feels physically well enough to attend classes, we will consider temporarily allowing a student to observe class remotely. Under those circumstances, the family should reach out to Assistant Head of School Rebecca Jackman as soon as possible to coordinate this temporary arrangement, as it will be tailored to the individual student and therefore require substantial logistical planning. In these special instances, the student may listen in on their classes, but there should be no expectation of a fully immersive hybrid learning experience. 

Given the burdens of both teaching and learning in a hybrid classroom, we cannot allow students to be remote for convenience (e.g., to accommodate a doctor’s appointment or to take an earlier train home). 

We anticipate all school gatherings, including Hancock, Back-to-School Night, assemblies, concerts, and plays, will be conducted in person, with masks highly encouraged for all participants. Proof of vaccination will not be required to attend. Detailed information about individual events will be shared with our community via email.

Please note that most admissions events will be virtual as well.

Our Cafegymnatorium and Annex will be open for seating during our regularly scheduled lunch period. We encourage eating outside on the Commonwealth Mall when weather permits. A designated classroom will be provided for any student attending school after a COVID infection or exposure in the family household; a second classroom will be provided for students who prefer to socially distance during lunch time given a high-risk family member. 

To reduce density in the Cafegymnatorium, we intend to continue our practice of beginning our lunch service 20 minutes before the lunch period technically begins, so students, faculty, and staff able to eat early can do so. 

In a departure from the guidance we shared earlier this summer, we are going to again allow food at lunchtime club meetings held in classrooms. This is the only exception to our rule of no food throughout the building. If you are not participating in a club meeting, you should eat in the Cafegymnatorium or outside. We remind our club leaders and goers to thoroughly clean their lunch refuse—and that the privilege of food at club meetings will be rescinded if classrooms are not cared for. 

Additional details about our lunch service will be shared with students on the first day of school.

We are thrilled to once again hold our all-school recess—such a vital part of the Commonwealth experience—in person every day in our Cafegymnatorium. We strongly encourage all students, faculty, and staff to wear high-quality masks during all-school gatherings. The Annex will be opened as overflow space as well. Snacks will be provided. All students, faculty, and staff are expected to attend; those who wish to eat their snacks after announcements (when the Cafegymnatorium is less crowded) are welcome to do so. 

Our mask-optional policy extends to visitors, including current parents and guardians, as well as those with official business in the building. As always, visitors should check in at the front office upon arrival. Visitors with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or an exposure to COVID in the previous 14 days should not come to our school building and should reschedule the visit or appointment.

Please note that prospective students are invited to visit the school with their families as a formal part of our admissions process. Due to capacity limits, these visits are only scheduled following the submission of our application form. Please see our How to Apply page for more information.