In an email Thursday, President Rick Commons announced the closure of both the upper and middle school campuses for three weeks from Saturday to Jan. 10. Both campuses will be closed over winter break until the week after classes resume. During this period, students will not be allowed on campus. Athletic activities and other student on-campus activities will likely re-start Jan. 11, according to the email.

Violet Barron ’22, a member of the Varsity Cross Country team, said she believes the school made a responsible decision to shut down campus.

“We’ve obviously been following the regulations, [such as] wearing a mask 100% of the time during practice,” Barron said. “But people might be traveling over winter break, and I feel like it’s good to have that kind of buffer week afterwards just to make sure no one brings anything back from their travels. A lot of things have had to shut down […] so it’s only right for high school sports to do the same by at least [being] on pause for a little while.”

Commons said that a return to in-person learning is “unlikely” to occur in January.

Commons said school administrators will continue to monitor the current situation in light of recent COVID-19 restrictions to decide when students can return to in-person learning.

“Unfortunately, with the current COVID-19 situation in Los Angeles County, a return to on-campus classroom instruction in January is unlikely,” Commons said in the email. “We will continue with school online until public health authorities determine that it is safe to bring students back to campus for instruction.”

The email also listed important dates for the 2021-22 school year, noting that the school year will begin Aug. 25 (and end June 7), Thanksgiving break will once again last for a full week and students will have two days off of school in February in observance of Presidents Day weekend.