May 4, 2020
10 Iyar 5780
Dear Levine Community,
As we head into our seventh week of Levine-At-Home, our faculty and staff remain fully active with connectivity and instruction, while evolving in response to parent feedback. Our board members are checking in with families, to let our community know that we are here for them. Our admin team is looking ahead to new protocols for summer and the fall, while researching ways to take our program -- whether schooling is virtual or in-person -- to a higher level of engagement.
Best of all: Our community spirit remains high, and the Yom Ha'Atzmaut Parade last week was just the beginning of what we know we can be doing to truly connect and enliven our school's mission.
K8 '20/'21 Tuition Assistance
Our highest priority right now is to meet the needs of our families so that we move forward with all of our families into next year. We know that this pandemic has meant heightened anxieties for many families trying to meet financial obligations, and it has meant financial hardship and setback in a way that will necessitate new assistance. We know that our financial aid process earlier this year did not capture the circumstances some of our families are encountering today. Therefore, to help achieve affordability, we want to partner with our families who may need support. If your finances have been significantly impacted because of the pandemic, please contact our Director of Finance and Operations, Brad Fleury, at
bfleury@levineacademy.org
by May 22 in order to begin a confidential dialogue about your needs.
EC '20/'21 TAP Expansion and Refund Policy Review
The stay-at-home order has been a particular burden on our families with EC children. The disruption to the two-working-parent household; the limitations of distance learning effectiveness; employee furloughs and job losses -- all have had an impact on many of our EC families. The Board has been working closely with our leadership team to consider expanding our Tuition Assistance Program for EC families. In addition, our task force is looking into our refund policy in order to arrive at remedies that will reflect these unique circumstances our EC families are experiencing. We know our families are very anxious to learn about any changes to our policies, and that is why we are fast-tracking this process and hope to communicate specifics to our EC families -- within a week.
New Protocols for Summer/Fall Programming and School
We have been closely communicating with several key sources responsible for devising the new hygiene, safety, and health protocols that schools will need to implement, both in the summertime for camps and when school resumes in August. While we are still awaiting word from the Governor's "strike force" looking into the reopening of schools and camps, we have been apprised of several procedures that are likely going to be required for our schools. We will share with our Levine community all of these measures and procedures once they are officially executed at the state level, but we wanted you to know that they will probably include the following: promote healthy hygiene practices, including daily temperature checks; control access to facility; intensifying cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation; ensure social distancing; staff training; limit sharing; monitoring for symptoms; plans for when staff, children, or visitors are sick -- this is simply a cursory review of items. Each category mentioned has dozens of action steps designed to mitigate risks and promote healthy practices.
As we finalize these assistance details and safety practices, we want to extend our highest commendations to both our teachers and our parents: To our teachers, for their phenomenal work during this Levine-At-Home phase; and to our families, for their stepped up roles on the home front, helping their children, partnering with us, giving us feedback, participating in our Parade, and maintaining commitment to our mission during these extraordinary circumstances.
I hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and staying safe,
Tom Elieff
Head of School
