April 6, 2020

Dear Prince Families:

For most families, life has been put on pause, and social distancing has become the new normal. But as a covenantal community, we know that we are called to pray in times like these and to work , which is precisely what our leadership team and faculty and staff continue to do as we seek to improve our online teaching strategies to incorporate more critical thinking skills in the virtual environment. I am pleased with our progress to date; in fact, our teachers have exceeded my expectations and many of yours, as evidenced by the many accolades and encouraging emails you have sent me regarding their performance. However, stasis is the enemy of improvement, or as the Greeks put it, “hubris is followed inexorably and inevitability by nemesis.” As a faculty and staff, we operate within a continuum that our students and parents expect excellence, and we serve a Creator who is the very definition of excellence who calls us to represent Him wisely and well. As an integrated team, our faculty and staff are committed to serving our students well within this new, but temporary, normal.

The unity, strength, and confidence we share as believers in our Lord stand in sharp contrast to the fears born out of the perishable hope that is sometimes demonstrated by our secular friends. Our faith in Him also enables us to speak more plainly about reality with the knowledge that God is ultimately in control of everything while we are in control of our attitudes. 

Our reality is we will not be returning to a traditional school environment these last five weeks of school. Following our governor’s announcement last Thursday to close all government schools for the remainder of the school year, we had multiple conversations with our accrediting agencies, attended virtual meetings with other independent school leaders in the Southeast, and held discussions with the other local independent and public school administrators. The opinions of these leaders were unanimous; students’ safety must come first, and thus remaining in an online environment fulfills our number one priority of safeguarding students’ well-being. This was a difficult decision, but it was made after a great deal of consultation and prayer by our leadership team and board of trustees. We will continue to employ discernment and wisdom as we make deliberate and incremental decisions for our school and avoid hasty, reactionary decisions that often instill anxiety and fear, which are counterproductive.

The last class day for seniors remains May 8; however, all grades will now finish the school year on May 15 instead of May 22. We can make this change because we “gained” an instructional week by canceling our week of standardized testing. In response to our decision to remain online for the remainder of this school year, our leadership team is collaborating and brainstorming with other school leaders on how we can memorialize milestone events like kindergarten graduation, the fifth grade moving up ceremony, junior-senior prom, Thing-a-Thon, recognition day, awards day, and high school graduation. In addition, we are working on logistical issues that include how to ensure the contents of students’ lockers are safely and accurately returned to them; the distribution of yearbooks (the yearbook was completed on time, and we are expecting delivery shortly); the collection of textbooks, the turn in of athletic uniforms (seniors in particular); and many other details too numerous to mention here. We are in the process of clearly defining each undertaking to be completed and the most effective and efficient plan for its completion. We have an integrated and unified leadership team that is trained to develop solutions together, document what needs to be done, communicate the plan and expectations to all parties involved, execute the plan, and conduct an after-action/lessons learned meeting. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we go about these processes relative to what actions we will take during the last five weeks of school. We will begin communicating our initial steps at the end of next week after we return to online instruction.

For the safety of your students and our faculty, please do not ask to come to the school to retrieve any materials. The principals in each grade level will be glad to assist you to the best of their abilities with any individual requests. Members of our leadership team are routinely on campus and working to ensure the continued, smooth operation of our school.

These are unprecedented times, but the knowledge and comfort that come from knowing we have a gracious, loving, heavenly Father who knows everything and who controls everything helps reduce anxiety and worse, fear. Our God is the Good Shepherd; He loves us and will never forsake us. 

With warm regards and in His service,