I got my letter from my employer inviting me back to teach this season. My ski resort is owned by Omni Hotels, by the way, and the letter came from human resources instead of from our ski school director, since we are employees of a hotel chain (yes, really).
The letter asks us to let them know if we are returning for the season. I will not return this season, but hope to next season if things change for the better.
Those that are returning are given a choice between attending the required pre-season meeting to do all the paper work in-person, or they can do the same thing online. It's good they made an online option available. For the in-person meeting, they will enforce social distancing and take everyone's temperature, and this year delete the free food. Huh. It's usually a three-hour big social gathering in the main lodge. Everyone finds friends they haven't seen all summer and catches up, fills out paperwork, watches videos on safety, jumps through the appropriate hoops to satisfy safety regulations, while enjoying and complaining about the breakfast and lunch food provided. Afterwards there's usually some outside stuff we do for another hour or so. In the past I've found it a good start to the season. I'll miss going back.
Nothing in the letter describes any Covid-19 accommodations that the ski school may or may not put in place to protect instructors from the virus once the season starts. Such information would be helpful in guiding instructors in their decisions about coming back. Our locker room is a small enclosed cavity in the basement of the main lodge, accessed by walking into the main lodge through the most-used doors, then through the crowded area where everyone gets backed up at the doors trying to get out of the lodge, then down the same steps everyone uses to get to the bathrooms. In normal times this is a densely packed lodge on weekends and holidays, and it's even somewhat crowded on weekdays.
Our instructor staff is quite up there in years, with the average age of instructors falling in the mid-60s. Our SSD did the math last year, and got a good laugh when he told us just how old we really were. We are a vulnerable crew. Our mountain comes with a massive historic luxury hotel across the street, so it functions as a destination resort even though it's in NH. Many people book lodging to ski at Bretton Woods days at a time. It's not just a locals ski area. I quit teaching early, on March 1 last year, because of the danger of all those travelers bringing the virus to our out of the way location.
I am still wondering what, if anything beyond masks and social distancing, will be done to help keep our instructor staff healthy as the pandemic continues. The letter did not leave me feeling like they are confident they have worthy plans in place.
I started this thread to see what accommodations ski schools would be making to assure the safety of their instructors. Does anyone here have an idea yet about your own ski school's plans?