Dear EBI Community,
The well-being of our community remains a top priority for all of us in this evolving landscape. Similar to what you might be experiencing, we are also feeling the increased concern for keeping our students, employees, and community healthy. On March 11, the
World Health Organization
characterized the COVID-19 as a pandemic. As we have continued to monitor the rapid growth of the COVID-19, we have been focused on our priority of balancing the health and safety of our community members with our responsibility to our students, families, and our faculty and staff. After careful consideration with the EBI Response Team and extensive consultation with our leadership and administrative team, independent and public schools, and health experts,
we are proactively suspending classes on Monday, March 16 to build an extra Professional Development Day for teachers
. I want to assure you that
there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our school community.
Given the evolving situation, it is prudent that we use this 3-day weekend to ensure our team receives all the necessary support and training needed to provide the best possible remote educational experience for our students. In particular, we want to achieve the following objectives:
- Our faculty and staff have been working really hard to prepare for a potential closure and are indeed ready. Additional time will allow us to bring teaching teams together to solidify their plans for extended distance learning activities should it be needed and to receive additional training
- We will deep clean and disinfect our learning spaces
- We will be prepared to be even more responsive to the growing number of student absences and families who are already opting to keep their student(s) home
- We will use the time to continue to assess how the situation is unfolding into the weekend
Given the rapid rate of change and the new information becoming available, we will be using the next 24-48 hours to evaluate and consider an extended closure that would begin for both teachers and students on Tuesday, March 17. In order to prepare for this possibility, we ask that all students plan to bring all personal items home at the end of the school day tomorrow. We will send communication on our school closure plans as soon as we reach a decision.
We recognize that changes like these may create disruptions for families. Please know that we don’t take this lightly, and that we are making decisions regarding changes incrementally based on the information we have and continue to receive, guided by our utmost concern for the health, safety, and needs of our community.
Heartfelt thanks for your flexibility, encouragement, support, and kind patience. We are always stronger together.
Con sincera apreciación y gratitud,
Paola V. Clark, Ed.D.
