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2022 Summer Program
& COVID-19 Response

Updated July 9, 2022

With regard to COVID-19, much care still needs to be taken for classes to take place. 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 2022 Summer Program classes. Thank you!

Any information regarding changes to the class experience made necessary by COVID-19 will be posted here.

Response for classes held starting July 10, 2022

  • The Clearing will require everyone who comes for a Summer Program class to be vaccinated per the CDC’s guidelines on booster eligibility and provide proof of vaccination. Full vaccination includes any boosters for which you are eligible and is required for all workshop participants. The Clearing staff are subject to the same requirements.

  • If you are experiencing any of the symptoms related to COVID-19 infection, please stay home. All class cancellations this year will include a full refund of any tuition payment minus $25 administrative fee made for a class.

  • Workspaces will be socially distanced, and classes will have limited, and in some cases, reduced headcount maximums than in previous years.

  • The Clearing is currently not requiring students and instructors to wear a mask when indoors. Masking is optional.

  • There are hand sanitizing stations at the entrance to each classroom building, the Root Cellar, the Lodge and the Jensen Center.

  • Windows may be open during class, if weather cooperates, for fresh air flow, so please bring a sweater or wrap, if you feel it is appropriate for your comfort. There is forced air furnace heat and air conditioning, if needed, as well, with an iWave air purifier system.

  • See below for meal schedule and class schedule updates for classes held within June 10, 2022:

1. The dining room is closed. (Commuters will be allowed to use the dining room for their meals.)

2. All guests will pick up their breakfasts and dinners (noon meals) at the kitchen—breakfast at 7:30 and dinner at noon. The bell will ring at each of those times to announce that the meals are ready for pickup. We request that guests eat their meals in their room or outside, not in their classroom.

3. Suppers will be “box meals,” and will be placed in the refrigerator in the Root Cellar by 2:00 each afternoon. The boxes will have a room number or name on it.

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.

Response for classes held between July 3 & October 29, 2022

  • The Clearing will require everyone who comes for a Summer Program class to be vaccinated per the CDC’s guidelines on booster eligibility and provide proof of vaccination. Full vaccination includes any boosters for which you are eligible and is required for all workshop participants. The Clearing staff are subject to the same requirements.

  • If you are experiencing any of the symptoms related to COVID-19 infection, please stay home. All class cancellations this year will include a full refund of any tuition payment minus $25 administrative fee made for a class.

  • Workspaces will be socially distanced, and classes will have limited, and in some cases, reduced headcount maximums than in previous years.

  • The Clearing is currently not requiring students and instructors to wear a mask when indoors. Masking is optional.

  • There are hand sanitizing stations at the entrance to each classroom building, the Root Cellar, the Lodge and the Jensen Center.

  • Windows may be open during class, if weather cooperates, for fresh air flow, so please bring a sweater or wrap, if you feel it is appropriate for your comfort. There is forced air furnace heat and air conditioning, if needed, as well, with an iWave air purifier system.

  • See below for meal schedule and class schedule updates for classes held within July 3 - October 29, 2022:

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