Dear Upper School Families,

I think we did it.

I want to thank all the people at Beaver who made this first week a great start of the year. That’s everyone on the Upper School team. And, I also need to thank the kids. They have been great partners and worked with all of us to make it happen.

And of course, thank you, families, for your support and patience.

Now a few highlights and reminders from this week and a look ahead to next week:

During orientation, we had a special welcome back for the class of 2021. While things are different this year, it's still a very exciting time and worth celebrating SENIOR YEAR! So, in addition to this week's balloons and cookies, we have a few more things up our sleeves in the coming weeks and months!

I hope you, as parents/guardians, enjoyed the advisory conferences and feel ready for this year. Feel free to reach out to any of us on the team, and especially your advisor.

Yesterday, I emailed students to let them know that the Upper School will move to Zoom as a meeting platform for classes and other online meetings.

The main reasons for this choice are:

In the spring, while we had considered Zoom, we were not convinced because of safety issues with the platform. They have spent the summer making great strides to remedy any concerns, and we are confident that it will be a better tool for teaching and learning.

I know many families are curious as to what our campus looks like this fall. While we're still adding more signs and setting up classrooms (and will continue to do so throughout the fall), you can get a glimpse of some of the things we have done here. This is not an extensive list by any means; you can find that in the Healthy Policies, Practices, and Protocols document.

Enjoy your weekend.

Director of Upper School