Dear teens, parents and guardians,

We are very excited to be offering an in person experience for Leaders School this year. As the pandemic is still ongoing I’m sure you have many questions before considering attending. We will keep this blog updated as changes in guidelines are made so you can stay informed. We are confident you will have a great experience this summer and safety will be our top most priority.

Leaders School is hosted at Springfield College in Springfield Massachusetts, as such we’ll be following Massachusetts state guidelines and protocols along with protocols put in place by the college and by the YMCA of Greater Boston, our hosting YMCA.

The Leaders School management team has setup several “hard stops”, meaning that if any of them occur or are still in place we will not run the program in person and will pivot to a virtual program. In this case refunds will be granted to participants. These hard stops include:

  • Travel bans that require quarantine if you’re coming from outside of Massachusetts. These are currently in place but we expect/hope they will be lifted by the time of Leaders School.
  • Lockdowns imposed by the state of Massachusetts.
  • Not meeting our minimum registration numbers, which currently is 70 teens.

Guidelines During Leaders School – Updated June 16th 2021

  • Update 6/14/21. All participants not fully vaccinated are required negative COVID test with results received no earlier than 48 hours 7 days prior to arriving on campus. We recommend scheduling the test between July 11th – 15th to ensure you have results in time. This test should be a PCR test, antigen tests are not accepted.
    • Vaccinated Participants – Those who are fully vaccinated (14 days after your 2nd shot, or 1st shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccine) can provide a copy of their vaccine record instead and forego getting a COVID test.
    • If you do not have proof a vaccination a negative test 7 days prior to arriving on campus will be required.
  • Most states provide free COVID testing, please check with your child’s primary care provider. Below are links to testing resources by state.
  • Update 7/16/21. Masks will be encourage for all unvaccinated participants while indoors. This is based on CDC guidelines and the fact that everyone attending and interacting with our program will have had a negative test or vaccination. Regardless of vaccination status we still recommend sending your teen with masks and discuss your expectations with them. We will carry a limited stock of disposable masks on site for anyone to use.
  • Update 6/14/21. Physical distancing of 6 feet or more during all activities. Per MA state guidelines physical distancing measures have been lifted EXCEPT for high risk activities i.e. close contact sports like wrestling or rugby. Leaders School will continue to encourage, but not require distancing.
  • Our “Living Groups” (small groups that eat meals and do activities together) will be limited to 9 12 teens and 1-2 adults.
  • Update 6/14/21. Springfield College has installed dividers during meals so participants may sit together without wearing masks to share and eat a meal.
  • Update 6/14/21. Large group activities will be limited to no more than 50 150 people indoors, masks for those unvaccinated will be required and physical distance encouraged.
  • Update 6/14/21. Large group activities outdoors will not exceed 200 people.
  • Teens will be in “pods” as much as possible to prevent mixing of groups for activities.
  • For dorms and sleeping we will have 1 person per room, no roommates. Adult supervisors will be in their own rooms as well throughout each floor.
  • Update 5/13/21. Temperature checks Daily health questionnaire will happen daily for all participants. Those who do not pass it or who develop a temperature of 100.0 or higher will quarantine in their room and be sent home.
  • Teens who experience symptoms of feeling ill including but not limited to fever, coughing, cold or flu like symptoms, loss of taste or smell, etc. will quarantine in their room and will be required to be picked up by a parent/guardian. Staff who experience these symptoms will also quarantine and be sent home.
  • We will have heightened cleaning and sanitation protocols for all spaces during and after use. Participants will be required to sanitize their hands multiple times per day. We recommend sending your teen with enough travel sized alcohol based hand sanitizer to last the week.

Please contact us if you have any further questions or concerns.