Drawing on guidance from The New York State Education Department, The Centers for Disease Control, and The New York Board of Health, along with emerging best practices and our own teaching and learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Manitou School has carefully designed a reopening plan which places the physical, emotional, and social well-being of students, staff, families, and community members at the heart of our intention to reopen our physical campus on September 1st, 2020. During this challenging time we are dedicated to providing the same compassionate, challenging education to our students and families, whether in-person, remotely, in outdoor classrooms, or a hybrid model. You can find our plan here: Manitou School Reopening Plan.  

Please note that we are awaiting final guidance from the Health Department in some areas of the plan, and that this is a dynamic document that will continue to be updated to comply with the latest regulations.

As we prepare to reopen our campus in September, Manitou School is intending to:

• Open the school in-person to all students, every day
• Ensure compliance with all NYS guidelines
• Spend a significant amount of time learning outdoors for all age groups
• Establish multiple outdoor tented learning spaces that allow us to take full advantage of our outdoor learning environment through our aligned curriculum
• Continue our focus on Social-Emotional learning and development
• Forge strong student-teacher bonds
• Resume the routine of coming to school every day, and normalize the new requirements that will be necessary for health and safety
• Support students and families during periods where they are not able to attend in-person

We are simultaneously working on an improved Remote Learning plan, should we be required to shift to Remote Learning at any point.  Our team remains confident and flexible, and will be able to pivot, in innovative and creative ways, while staying true to our foundational principles of Social Emotional Development, Student Engagement, and Community Connection.