At Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, we were excited to welcome students back to campus this Fall. Investing heavily in faculty, students, families, and facilities, Oakwood’s five-day a week in-person program supports both boarding and day students. Serving grades 5-12, Oakwood students engage in a full array of academic, music and theatrical programming this term. Moving into mid-October, the campus community is healthy and engaged in meaningful work inside and outside the classroom.
With the health and safety of our community first and foremost, Oakwood’s reopening protocols meet and exceed all NYS, DOH and CDC health and safety guidelines and standards. This is the result of extensive work we undertook throughout this past summer, focusing on the health and safety of our community, a commitment to mission and the academic strength of our program, and to supporting each of our students, safely and responsibly, through both our in-person and online learning platforms.
The Steps We Took
- Made significant investments in the health and safety of our community
- Enhanced physical spaces, classrooms, and performance spaces
- Expanded outdoor classrooms to include more of the 55 acre campus
- Fully updated and renovated our 100-year old theater, including a new, state-of-the-art ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
- Expanded the technological infrastructure
- Invested in the support of and professional development of our faculty and staff
- Listened, responded to and supported families and students through these difficult months away from campus
How Classes Now Are Different
- Social distancing, masks, hand-washing throughout
- Ventilation enhancements, increased air-flow, filtration, classroom air purifiers.
- Creative scheduling allows both boarding and day students to engage in all levels of core and elective class offering
- Eating well and healthy with breakfast, lunch and dinners available in the dining hall
- Addition of several new outdoor classroom spaces in the great outdoors, taking advantage of our 55-acre campus
- Students in-person and remote, participating synchronously in classes from the Hudson Valley and around the globe
We are continuing to closely monitor the environment in New York and are fully prepared to adapt quickly and thoughtfully, should conditions change. For up-to-the-minute details, go to OakwoodFriends.org
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