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October 2020
Dear TSA Community,
I hope you will enjoy what will be just the first of regular updates that will remind you of what makes TSA so special. As we begin the fourth full week of school I especially wanted to reach out to you with an update of some importance. On Sunday, September 6, two days before our first day of school, my husband Ross was in a very bad bicycle accident. It was a perfectly beautiful day and he was enjoying the long Labor Day weekend by going for a strenuous ride with a friend from out of town-a great way to enjoy company during a pandemic. He was going down a very steep hill in Pomfret on a newly paved road and hit a patch of gravel; the loose rocks combined with a steep curb caused him to collide with a guardrail, resulting in two broken wrists, five broken ribs, multiple internal injuries, and a severe stroke. Before the accident, I thought that my colleagues had gone as "above and beyond" as it was possible to go-working feverishly all summer to get ready for a school year full of unknowns and things out of our control. Then I found myself consumed by Ross's accident, which for a week was truly a fight for his life, and unable to be at school for my first days ever as Head of School, in a year when nothing is the way it's supposed to be. And it turned out that I was wrong about my colleagues. Over the past two weeks they have redefined what it means to "step up." School has begun, students are here, learning is happening, the school is alive. And Ross is alive, too, and getting stronger every day. So, my life will probably never be quite the same as before Ross's accident. And school may never be quite the same after we've weathered this storm. And that's ok, because we have it in us. Humans are capable of extraordinary things, especially when we're surrounded by trust, respect, and love. And those things come in spades at this place. As I look ahead to the next weeks and months, I see our work at TSA being not entirely different from the work my family faces: taking each day with a healthy dose of gratitude that we're here, committing ourselves to learning, accepting the inevitability of challenge and making sure to take a moment to celebrate our successes. I could not imagine anywhere else I'd rather be facing this work, and I look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you along the way.  Mary Newman TSA Head of School
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No Campus Visitors until Further Notice
Sadly, as much as we want you to visit,
our health and safety protocols prohibit visitors on campus.
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TSA Goes Hybrid
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Green Cohort student in elective class
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Teaching and learning happens best when students are engaged with their teachers, the subject, and fellow students in a supportive community. Over the summer, TSA established a task force to consider how to create an environment that maintains student engagement and community, while also providing the social distancing required to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. After much consideration, the task force determined that a hybrid teaching model would be our best option for the 2020-21 school year.
The hybrid model means that half of our students will be on campus at any one time. Having fewer students in the building allows them to maintain safe distancing. Students were assigned to either the "Green" cohort or the "Phoenix" cohort. The "Green" cohort is at TSA on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. The "Phoenix" cohort is at TSA on Thursdays and Fridays each week. On Wednesdays, all students are off campus and the buildings are deep cleaned.
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Orientation during a Pandemic
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Egg toss at the 2020 Middle School Orientation
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This year, more than any other year in its 25-year history, Orientation Days at The Sharon Academy were a crucial way to start the year.
The day after Labor Day, both new and returning students faced the challenge and felt the excitement of transitioning back to school after a six-month break from in-person learning; TSA worked hard to design an orientation program to help with that transition.
Orientation days were filled with games and conversations between students and staff. No matter the activity, the focus of Orientation was to help students get to know one another while also helping them to adjust to the new world in which we all find ourselves.
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TSA Creates an Equity Committee
Many of you have read TSA's Statement of Solidarity, which addressed issues of social and racial justice in our country.
We recognize that we need to be doing more. We also recognize the ongoing nature of our commitment to this work. Therefore, TSA created an Equity Committee to concentrate on three areas: Teacher/Staff training and support, Student/Curriculum development, and Community engagement. Our In-Service this year included equity and anti-racism training for all of the adults in our community. Training will continue through the year.
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Staff Updates
One of the most exciting aspects of a new school year is welcoming new members to our TSA family and celebrating transitions among our existing staff. Since last year, we have also bid farewell to many others. This year TSA welcomes four new teachers and one new staff member: Parker Beaupre teaches Spanish, Ben Gross teaches middle school math, Paul Hurwitz is the new Facilities Director, Janine Manninen teaches geometry, and Angie Spickard teaches biology.
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From left to right: Parker Beaupre, Ben Gross, Paul Hurwitz, Janine Manninen, and Angie Spickard
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Interim Rescheduled
Save the dates: Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10, 2021
 In the spirit of COVID-19 adaptability, TSA is altering the timing of its Interim production. Save the date! April 9 and 10 are our planned performances. Our class of 2021 is developing plans to announce the spring musical. Stay tuned (see, what we did there???) for more information about the Spring Musical!
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Senior Shelter
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Senior Shelter at TSA High School
dedicated to the Class of 2020
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Thanks to parents Donna and Eric Foster for leading the effort to build TSA's new "Senior Shelter." This outdoor classroom space is a gift from the Class of 2020 to all past and future Seniors but really, it is for use by all at TSA. Thank you as well to the many Class of 2020 alumni parents who also contributed and participated in this. They used the existing soccer kick wall as a main supporting wall for the structure and the rest took shape from there as Eric designed and built most of it himself, with Donna's help! (Donna was the rafter-strapping-roofing-plywood raising-stump debarking-sanding and poly-applying helper.) What a wonderful gift!
The stumps inside are each dedicated to a graduate of the Class of 2020, plus one for former Head of School Michael Livingston, who also "graduated" in 2020.
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Building a New Wing at TSA's High School
We are on schedule to begin construction in the spring of 2021 for a new wing on the high school to replace our beloved but aging yurts with necessary classroom spaces for science and the arts.
Our new facility will allow us to provide TSA students with a space to perform authentic, inquiry-based projects and give them the tools they need for their post-secondary lives.
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 It's never too early to plan! Save the date for the Annual Gala May 1, 2021
Celebrate TSA's 25th Anniversary! |
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Varsity Boys Soccer
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Look out for our next update
We look forward to filling you in on more highlights from TSA. Look for another communication in a few months!
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