With the new year and ongoing pandemic, the social compact was created as a guideline to ensure the safety and well being of the Blake community. It affirms Blake’s strong core value of respect and sets expectations for Upper School students and their families in and outside of school. Expectations like wearing masks, social distancing, monitoring health, following the safety plan by Governor Tim Walz, and protocols for quarantining are all stated on the document. Additionally the consequences stated at the bottom are listed in chronological order of severity. students who are all remote but are still in sports do in fact have to sign the social compact. 

Upper School Director Joe Ruggiero states, “What we’re asking people to do is really just to abide by the guidelines that the state is issuing.” In an effort to balance setting and enforcing expectations, the social compact is a reminder that one’s actions can have a major impact on the greater community. 

As the social compact is for the health and security of the students, it aims to impact them in a positive way. Many students acknowledge and understand the measures needed to be taken. Roy Chebaclo ‘22 states, “I think it makes a lot of sense because most of what the school is doing is very helpful and cautious of the community, making sure everyone’s best interests are in mind, and keeping everyone safe. At the same time I can see why someone might think it’s not right because they’re controlling what you do outside of school”. Nico Valiente ‘23 agrees and believes that “it should’ve been done from the beginning of the year and that would’ve been so helpful”. In the beginning of the year the Blake administration relied on members of the community to use common sense and good judgement, the social compact puts it in writing to ensure in-person learning and the best possible education for their students.