Health & Wellness

Quarantining Guidelines: Fully-vaccinated individuals who are up-to-date on boosters (see guidelines to see if you qualify) OR who have had COVID-19 in the last 90 days DO not need to quarantine following close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual. However, if you come into close contact and DO develop symptoms you should quarantine and get tested. Follow above isolation guidance if you test positive.

For example, a Holton sophomore who is fully-vaccinated (no booster required) would not need to quarantine after being in contact with a classmate or teammate who tests positive unless she had COVID-19 symptoms. Should she have symptoms, she would need to get a PCR test. If the PCR test is positive she would return according to the above isolation guidance. If she is negative, she would return as soon as she uploads her negative results to Magnus.

Individuals who are not fully-vaccinated, must quarantine for 5 days after a close contact. If they experience no symptoms, they should get a PCR test at the conclusion of those 5 days. If they are symptomatic, they should get a PCR test immediately. With more than 80% of our Lower School fully-vaccinated and nearly 100% of our Middle and Upper School students fully-vaccinated, this category represents a very small portion of our student body.

Updated 1.2.22

Holton recently adopted the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) interim guidance to schools regarding COVID-19 quarantine and isolation. As a reminder, this reflects interim guidance from the CDC and is subject to change. The guidance is applicable to asymptomatic AND symptomatic people. To be clear, we’ve highlighted the guidance below and provided Holton-specific examples.

Isolation Guidance for COVID-19 Positive Individuals: All persons who test positive for COVID-19 or believe they may have COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, should complete isolation as follows:

• Stay home for at least 5 full days from the date of symptom onset if symptomatic or the date of the positive test if no symptoms. Day 1 is considered the first full day after symptoms started in symptomatic persons or the first full day after the person tested positive if asymptomatic.
• After Day 5, if the person has no symptoms or if symptoms have improved and they have had no fever for at least 24 hours without medication, they may return to school and continue to wear a well-fitting mask.

For example, any asymptomatic individuals who tested positive from the Thursday, January 6th test, would be cleared to return to Holton on Wednesday (Friday -first “full day”- plus Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, for a total of 5 days). An individual with symptoms who tested positive from Thursday would count the first full day of symptoms (could be before testing happened) and as long as they have no fever (without aid of medicine) and their symptoms are improving, they may return to School. For some, that could be as early as tomorrow. If you have questions about your specific case, please follow-up with Lori Herringa (lori.herringa@holton-arms.edu) for guidance.

Updated 1.10.22

Beginning Tuesday, January 4, the entire Holton community and employees will be required to test weekly, regardless of vaccination status. More details will be shared via the Sunday Skim. 

Updated 1.2.22

Holton will continue to monitor key indicators (new cases per million people, hospitalization levels, and test positivity data), consult with medical and epidemiological professionals, and follow federal, state and local health guidance to determine open and closure decisions. Beginning Tuesday, January 4, Holton will test the entire on-campus community of students and employees (regardless of vaccination status) weekly.

Updated 1.2.22

We are strongly encouraging n95 or kn95 masks. 

Indoors: As per CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, and local health officials, the Holton-Arms School will require everyone (students, faculty, staff, and all visitors) to wear masks when inside School buildings or on Holton transportation—regardless of vaccination status. For students, a cloth mask (3 ply in uniform colors of blue, black, white or grey) or disposable medical mask must cover the nose and mouth and fit snugly under the chin.

Outdoors: Mask breaks are permitted outside—regardless of vaccination status—when physical distancing (at least 3 feet of space) can be maintained. This will include LS recess. 

Athletics: For P.E., MS Sports, and Interscholastic Athletics, all students and spectators must be masked indoors and can remove masks outdoors. 

Fine and Performing Arts: All students will be masked when singing indoors. The music department will continue to use protective coverings for wind instruments to limit the spread of germs. All musicals and plays will be rehearsed and performed in masks. We will regularly evaluate this policy. 

Classrooms and offices have been set up to adhere to the CDC recommendation that schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students/employees within each classroom, office, or workspace. 

Under the guidance of the CDC (see exception for K-12 indoor classrooms) and Maryland Department of Health (see page 3), we are no longer performing intensive contact tracing. The Department of Health is only requiring those who live in the same household or have intensive exposure (i.e., sleepover or sports teams without masks) to contact trace. Typical classroom exposure is not a qualifying contact. Given we still have a small fraction of students in Lower School that remain unvaccinated, we will however continue to reach out to students by grade-level when a classmate has tested positive. 

Updated 1.13.22

Vaccination is currently the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2021, Holton senior leaders determined that adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccines for all eligible students 12 years and older was the best way to make the Holton campus and our broader community of students and adults as safe as possible. This policy decision was based on guidelines and information from the CDC, Maryland Department of Health and Maryland School Health Services, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). More details on this decision are available here. All families are reminded to update Magnus with their child(ren)’s medical forms prior to return to campus per the enrollment contract.  Students who need to coordinate the COVID-19 vaccine with other required vaccinations should update Lori Herringa, School Nurse, on expected timing. Students must submit completed medical forms prior to attending ANY on-campus activities including, pre-season, orientation, Convocation, or classes. At this time we are not requiring students under 11 to be vaccinated, but we are STRONGLY encouraging it and will determine in the Spring 2022 if this will be a requirement for the 2022-23 School year. 

All Holton faculty and staff are required to be vaccinated unless they have an approved exemption based on a verified medical condition. This requirement also applies to coaches and substitute teachers.

Visitors will be limited and allowed only on a case-by-case basis. Prior to entering the building, all visitors will be required to complete a wellness screening that includes acknowledgement of vaccination status. Please also have a government-issued ID with you and be ready to show proof of vaccination. No unscheduled visitors will be permitted. With few exceptions, unvaccinated individuals are not permitted in the building. A mask must be worn at all-times while indoors.

Staying home when sick is not only important for one’s health and well-being, it is also essential to keep infections out of school and prevent spread to others. While we will not ask vaccinated students in grades 7-12 to complete daily wellness checks in SchoolPass, Lower School students will continue to complete these daily. New families will receive details on registering for SchoolPass shortly. However, regardless of vaccination status, we do expect community members to monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 or any illness. Please check for the following symptoms and stay home until you are symptom-free for 24 hours: 

• temperature of 100.4 or higher; 

• sore throat; 

• uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing; 

• diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain; 

• new onset of severe headache, especially with fever. 

As always, please report your child’s absence to your Division Administrative Assistant. 

We are preparing the Dining Hall to return to serving normal food service, although we anticipate some adjustments to keep things safe for our unvaccinated students.

We are also excited to once again serve breakfast each morning from 7:35 - 8:15 a.m. However, at this time, for the safety of our students, parents/guardians will not be allowed to join. 

We continue to closely monitor the recommendations from the CDC and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers regarding ventilation. We are taking the following steps according to their guidelines:

• Maximizing outdoor air in the HVAC system as much as possible;

• Increasing the level of air filtration as high as possible in all locations while still allowing the system to function;

• Increasing the frequency of all filter changes;

• Operating ventilation units 24 hours per day when possible and increasing system running times.

• Continue to encourage outdoor air flow by keeping windows open throughout the building when weather allows. 

While on campus, students are expected to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer frequently. Sanitizer stations are located throughout the buildings and in classrooms.

Because the risk of COVID-19 surface transmission is considered minimal, cleaning will generally return to normal levels and frequency. In the event that a student or teacher has a suspected case of COVID-19 during the School day, the potentially infected classroom will be closed until it can be thoroughly disinfected. 

This fall the Independent School League (ISL) will be requiring all student-athletes participating in the winter season to be fully vaccinated by November 10. Since our school community (12 years and older) is already fully-vaccinated, Holton-Arms School is pleased that this requirement of all student-athletes within the league will only strengthen protections for our student-athletes competing during the winter season. 

As an additional layer of surveillance, the ISL will require all student-athletes to submit to weekly COVID-19 PCR testing beginning November 15. On-campus testing options will be shared offered. This will include all Middle School and Upper School athletes.

After careful consideration and consultation with other NAIS schools, Holton-Arms has decided to continue our policy suspending school-sponsored domestic and international overnight travel until further notice. This includes global journeys, division field trips/retreats and athletic camps and trips. We are still considering league championships where travel may include an overnight stay. 

In considering the various responsibilities that our employees undertake when chaperoning overnight travel, we determined that the unpredictable nature of COVID-19 spread coupled with the varying visitor/guardian policies of hospitals outside of the immediate DMV area if a student were to need medical treatment for any reason posed too much of a burden and risk. We will evaluate our policy regarding league championships as new information becomes available. However, we wanted to share our current thinking so that students and families could plan accordingly.

COVID-19 is still impacting our area, albeit with less severity, and therefore we have to be vigilant in abiding by the Communicable Disease Policy that keeps sick students out of the building. In most cases, if your child has been out sick, we will ask for a negative rapid COVID test and that your child be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to School. We will continue to send students home if they come to school with any of the symptoms listed in the linked Communicable Disease Policy, and ask for your partnership in alleviating this step when possible.

Concussion Fact Sheet

Concussions and Head Injuries Policy

Consent for Administration of ImPACT Assessment Form

Online Resources

Adult Wellness Program