COVID FAQs

Yes. In order to help the Holton campus and our community of students and adults remain as safe as possible, we are requiring all employees to be fully-vaccinated by August 16, the week before Pre-Season and New Faculty Orientation begins (August 23).  This means that employees need to have received their final shot (either one J&J shot or a second Pfizer or Moderna shot) by Friday, July 30. Employees must upload a copy of the vaccine card to Magnus by Monday, August 2. 

Yes, all eligible students must be vaccinated or have an approved exemption to participate in any on-campus activities (pre-season, orientation, Convocation) or attend  classes. The COVID-19 vaccination requirement is based on availability of the vaccines and each student’s eligibility to receive the vaccine. Currently, the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been approved for people 16 years and older and are readily available. Additionally, the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for students 12 and older and is also readily available. As your child receives their first and second doses of the vaccine, please upload a picture or their vaccination card directly to Magnus. A child is fully-vaccinated a full 14 days after they have received the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or  the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.  

As a reminder, we are asking all families to update Magnus with their child(ren)’s medical forms by August 1st per their contract.

Holton-Arms School’s health policies are based on guidelines and information from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Maryland Department of Health and Maryland School Health Services, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).  When developing policy and making decisions, we first refer to those agencies with a depth of knowledge and expertise focused on keeping our children healthy and safe.

If your child is not eligible to be vaccinated over the summer, but will turn 12 during the school year, they will be required to receive a first vaccination within 30 days of becoming eligible for the vaccine in order to continue attending School. As vaccines are approved and become available to younger children, we will share similar guidelines with those families.

If your child is medically unable to receive a vaccination, you will need to apply for a medical exemption, for which you must submit a letter from her doctor documenting the specific medical reason that she cannot receive a vaccination.  This must be submitted by August 1st and is subject for approval by the School before the student may return to campus. All medical information will be confidential.

Learn more about vaccine clinics in the area through the Montgomery County information portal or nationwide through Walgreens.  Additionally, we recommend parents consult the below resources as they learn more about the vaccine for their child. 

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) White Paper

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) FAQ

Healthy Children FAQ

Holton will continue to monitor key indicators (new cases per million people, hospitalization levels, and test positivity data), assess periodic testing results of the Holton community, consult with medical and epidemiological professionals, and follow federal, state and local health guidance to determine open and closure decisions. 

If a student shows signs of infectious illness consistent with COVID-19 while on campus, regardless of vaccination status, they will be evaluated by the School nurse and they will remain in isolation until a parent, or guardian picks them up immediately. Symptomatic individuals must submit a negative result of a PCR OR Rapid Antigen test to the School nurse and be symptom-free for 24 hours in order to return to School.  New this School year, Rapid Antigen tests are only acceptable for symptomatic individuals. Our regular assurance testing with Lower School students will continue to be PCR.

If a student tests positive for COVID-19,  the student begins home isolation and may return to school when they are 10 days out from the start of symptoms, fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication, AND symptoms have improved. A negative COVID-19 test is not required for a student to return after their isolation period, given they may test positive long after the 10-day period or symptoms have improved. 

If there is a positive case on-campus, the School will report the situation to the appropriate Montgomery County health officials according to current regulations and work with them to determine next steps. The School will follow and communicate immediately any health directives for quarantining, testing, or campus closure to affected students and their parents/guardians. If a student is asymptomatic they can work with their Division Director and/or teachers to attend their core academic/major classes virtually (no special or minors).

Unvaccinated individuals who have close exposure to someone who tests positive for COVID-19 must quarantine for 10 days after the last contact with the infected person. Additionally, they should consult with a healthcare provider for evaluation and possible COVID-19 test. An unvaccinated student can test out of quarantine at 7 days if they have a negative test result (PCR or Rapid/Antigen) 24 hours apart on days 5 and 7. Individuals who are fully vaccinated and are not symptomatic after exposure to someone with COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested for COVID-19. If a student is quarantining due to exposure on campus they can work with their Division Director and/or teachers to attend their academic/major classes virtually (no special or minors). If an entire LS homeroom ever needs to quarantine due to on-campus exposure to a COVID-19 positive classmate, virtual learning through google meet may be arranged.   

Yes. 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 a 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 masks must cover the nose and mouth and fit snugly under the chin.

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. 

Yes. We continue to closely monitor the recommendations from the CDC and ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers). 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. 

​​​​​​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.