Dear Harker Families, Soon, the Harker admission team will be sending you your 2021-22 re-enrollment contract in an email from our enrollment software, Ravenna; please keep an eye out for this email. The past year has been a tremendously challenging one; yet, it has also been one of growth. As we note each year, it is our privilege and an honor to bring out the best in children at Harker each and every day. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, our teachers and staff have put in a phenomenal effort to continue to make the most of their time with your student. Importantly, as we look to next year, we want to make clear that it is our intention to provide our traditional in-person program. The arrival of vaccines, which we anticipate all adults will have access to well before the start of the 2021-22 school year, should allow our staff to be on-site and should also allow for the easing of the county restrictions that have kept us in remote mode to this point. We may face requirements from the county or state that would necessitate some program modifications or that would continue to require certain preventative measures. However, as long as these do not require us to create a remote program for all or some members of our community (as they do now with the current spacing requirements), our intention is to operate entirely in an in-person mode. For those of you with children in middle school next year, we are pleased to note that we are on track for occupying our new middle school campus on Union Ave. when school starts in August. This facility will be a great one for our middle school students and teachers, and we will be sharing more about it as the school year approaches. As we move onto this campus, we will be putting together a transportation plan that will allow us to meet the city’s requirements for trip counts at peak times. As part of our planning approval process, we received limited entrances and exits to campus between 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. To meet these requirements, we are going to employ a number of strategies, including increased shuttles from other campuses and pickup locations, incentives for carpooling, and possibly requiring drop-off or pickup at off-campus sites during peak hours. We will be gathering and sharing information and plans throughout the spring and summer, and want our middle school families to be aware of the need for cooperation, and the possibility that alternative hubs may be required for some groups during the year. Knowing that a number of our Harker families have been impacted by COVID-19 in myriad ways, Harker’s board of trustees is keeping tuition fixed at the same levels as last year for the 2021-22 school year. This tuition, along with the generous philanthropy of our community, offers our rich and varied academic and curricular offerings, enrichment and supervision from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., our outstanding food service (not included in tuition remission), highly qualified nursing and counseling services, robust libraries, well-trained and caring security, and so much more. As we continue to deliver the excellence you expect in our programs, we are so honored to have your family with us. Our mission continues to be to motivate, challenge and inspire all of our students in academics, extracurricular interests and their personal development, to help them be the best that they can be. We are especially humbled to know that we are carrying on a mission that started more than 125 years ago. While the past year will eventually fade into our memories, we appreciate that you and your child spent it with us, and we also know that despite the challenges – and in some cases because of them – it was a very educational year. Yet, we are very eager to get back to the usual, unparalleled educational program for which Harker is known, and we look forward to having you with us on the journey! Wishing you all a wonderful 2021! Sincerely, Brian Yager Head of School