Dear Princeton Academy Community,
We hope that you and your loved ones are healthy, safe and well. Our heartfelt thoughts, care and prayers are with you during this extraordinary time. As we responsibly navigate the uncertainty of today, we are reaching out to let you know with confidence and clarity how Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart is planning and preparing for an unknown tomorrow. As a school, we are firmly rooted in our mission and guided by our shared vision. Our ability to look to the future with hope for our boys is grounded in our faith and embedded in the strength of our community.
While our students, faculty and staff are devoting themselves to completing this academic year with excellence and Sacred Heart spirit, our Board of Trustees and School Leadership Team (SLT) are also prioritizing preparations for next year. We recognize that all of us are wondering what the 2020–21 academic year holds. We would like to communicate that the Board and SLT are proactively engaging in scenario planning for the summer and fall so as to address our current uncertainty directly. To that end, we are currently envisioning three possible scenarios for September 2020:
- Scenario 1: Students, faculty and staff return to campus for in-person learning while abiding by standards that prioritize health and safety
- Scenario 2: Hybrid of in-person and distance learning experience
- Scenario 3: Distance learning experience
Our greatest hope is to be able to begin our 2020–21 academic year by welcoming our students back to campus in the fall. With this as our goal, we will continue to assess every aspect of the Princeton Academy experience with our community's health and safety as our top priority. We will make decisions based on smart public health practices, best available science and shared peer school experiences. We believe that proactively engaging in the discipline of scenario planning, along with considering alternatives around our tuition model, will enable us to remain highly adaptable and respond to our future context more nimbly with mission-driven intentionality.
While we cannot yet predict what September holds, we can say with certainty that we are planning and preparing for the scenarios that are before us. We are enduring this challenging time together and we understand the impact of these circumstances on our community. As a Board, we discern with head and heart while holding our fiduciary responsibility in the highest regard.
On June 12, 2020, we will share an update of our plan for the coming year relative to the anticipated scenarios. While we will not know the exact scenario for the fall as of yet, we are confident that the outcome of our next month of planning will result in informing you, our community, with transparency, clarity and foresight.
Four years ago, our community built a shared vision for the future of Princeton Academy that entailed leading a national reinvention of boys education for a new generation of enlightened men. Amidst a context that demands reinvention, Princeton Academy is positioned with strength to answer the call with leadership, vision and the support of a community that believes in our enduring mission. No matter what the future holds, we will be ready.
With gratitude,