KMS suspends classes, cancels weekend programs

KILLINGTON— In an email to Members of the Killington Mountain School Community, Head of school Tao Smith wrote, in part: “KMS is responding to the changing dynamic with one primary goal; protecting our children and employees, their extended families and loved ones to the very best of our ability. We have been in consultation with the heads of all of the Eastern ski academies, state chairs, US Ski & Snowboard officials, school trustees, Mike Solimano of Killington Resort and Mike Castellini of the Killington Ski Club, as well as with members of the professional medical community here in Vermont and New Hampshire. Today we learned that US Ski & Snowboard has cancelled all domestic and international events effective Monday, March 16, and yesterday USASA cancelled their national championship event in Colorado scheduled for the end of March/beginning of April.

To our knowledge, no one at KMS or in our club development program has been diagnosed with COVID-19. However, we currently have an employee at home in isolation with flu-like symptoms, and the likelihood that other members of our community will experience similar symptoms, COVID-19 or flu, is certain…

As it will be impossible for us to separate the infected from the healthy here on campus or on the road, we have determined that our ability to provide care for our school population will quickly become unsustainable. Given current circumstances and the importance of helping to safeguard not only our campus community but also wider society, we have decided that Killington Mountain School should take the following steps:

• Cancel all on-campus classes, effective March 12, through the end of the winter-term semester, and move to online instruction for all full and winter-term students starting Wednesday, March 18, lasting through the end of winter-term, Friday, April 3, 2020.
• Close the school campus, including residence, academic, athletic and administrative spaces, and require students to vacate their rooms starting Friday, March 13, at 3 p.m., and ending Sunday, March 15, at 9 p.m. The building will remain closed to all non-KMS employees from Sunday, March 15 through the end of our regularly scheduled spring break, Sunday, April 19. All winter-term dorm students will need to take all of their belongings home when they are picked up. Full-Term dorm students should be prepared to take home everything they will need until they return from April break, with the understanding that the building will not be accessible for any student for any reason until our planned reopening in April.
• Suspend all KSC/KMS Development Program operations immediately. This includes weekend programs, KSC/KMS+ Program and KSC/KMS ETP. There will be no weekend program events or training through the remainder of this season.
• Students currently traveling on KMS competition trips will remain with their groups and finish their current series.
• Suspend on-campus academic and any and all KMS-sponsored athletic training or events (unless currently in progress) as well as
• KMS-sponsored travel to international and domestic locations, unless approved by the Head of School, Assistant Head of School, or the Director of Academics.”