With regard to COVID-19, much care still needs to be taken for classes to take place. In an effort to keep our students, instructors, volunteers, staff and community safe, The Clearing’s staff and Board of Directors continue to monitor developments with respect to the recommendations of agencies like the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
We appreciate your respecting The Clearing's requests/requirements listed below for the health and safety of instructors, fellow students, and staff by noting the following for all 2023 Summer Program classes. Thank you!
Any information regarding changes to the class experience made necessary by COVID-19 will be posted here.
1. All guests may take any of their meals to the dining room, or, weather permitting, they may eat outside. Resident guests may also take their meals to their room.
2. Guests pick up their breakfasts and dinners (noon meals) at the kitchen—breakfasts at 7:30 and dinners at noon. The bell will ring at each of those times to announce that the meals are ready for pickup.
3. Suppers are box meals placed in the refrigerator in the Root Cellar by 2:00 each afternoon, except Thursday, when supper is not served at The Clearing. A room number, room name or guest name will be written on each box supper container. Weather permitting, there will be a picnic, served outside the Lodge, at noon on Thursday. If the weather conditions do not permit an outdoor picnic, the picnic will be served in the dining room.
4. Coffee will be available in pump pots just outside the kitchen door by about 6:30 each morning, starting on Monday morning. Bring a travel mug if you like, although paper cups will be available.
5. It’s difficult for the kitchen staff to provide beverages with meals being picked up at the kitchen. They’ll do their best to accommodate guests, but it will be helpful if guests bring their own beverages. There’s a small refrigerator in the Root Cellar for guests to use, or they may choose to bring a cooler. There's an ice machine in the Root Cellar.
Please note that beginning July 3, breakfasts and dinners (noon meals) will be served in the Lodge. The living room furniture has been placed in storage, and the entire upstairs is being used for dining. Tables have been spread out in this space, with no more than six place settings at any one table. We will be serving family-style, but in a different way than was done before the pandemic. Rather than everyone arriving for meals at the same time, guests may arrive within certain timeframes: 7:00 to 8:15 for breakfasts and noon to 1:15 for dinners. Guests will choose a table, and a server will come to their table to welcome them and to determine the amount of food needed at that table. Servers will also determine if anyone has a special diet, as determined by the general health form that all guests are requested to submit before their arrival at The Clearing. Guests are not allowed to take meals served in the Lodge outside, to their room or to their classroom. However, there is one meal that will be served outside, weather permitting—the Thursday noon picnic. In the event of poor weather, the picnic will be served in the Lodge.
Suppers will be box meals placed in the refrigerator in the Root Cellar by 2:00 each day, except Thursday, when supper is not served at The Clearing. Suppers may be eaten in your room or outside. Commuters may eat their Friday supper in the Lodge.
As a reminder, all guests must provide proof of vaccination in order to be at The Clearing. Thank you if you’ve already done this. We very much hope that everyone who comes to The Clearing is fully vaccinated, including any boosters for which they are eligible. The CDC recommends that everyone over 60, along with those under 60 who have certain underlying conditions, receive the second booster. However, we recognize that there is some debate regarding when to get the second booster. We also recognize that some, for medical reasons, and on the advice of their doctor, have been advised to not receive one or both boosters. Still, we hope that all who are eligible, and all who are able, have received their second booster, or if they haven’t, that they will receive it before their arrival at The Clearing. Those who have not may still attend, but for their own safety and for the safety of others, we urge them to consider receiving their second booster.
Masking is optional in classrooms, but instructors have the option to require it in their class. If any instructor chooses to require masking, we request that they inform The Clearing as soon as possible so that we can then inform the students in that class that masking is required
