Dear GMS Families,
To our students, parents, grandparents, and friends of the School near and far, thank you for standing side-by-side with our faculty and staff as we persist through these stressful times. We know each of you has been personally and professionally impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and we're humbled you continue to choose Greensboro Montessori School as your educational partner.
As we dove into preparing for this extended period of remote learning, we realized our students are better prepared for at-home learning than most others. The Montessori approach – with its focus on developing mastery and proficiency through many methods and student independence – is uniquely suited to online learning. Even though we deeply believe in hands-on, experiential learning, we are pleasantly surprised to see how well-adapted our students are for remote learning. They are self-sufficient, independent learners who employ real-world skills and accountability on a daily basis to achieve academic mastery. They don't rely on rote memorization and test taking to define their learning, and their ability to adjust to new ways of acquiring knowledge is unmatched. We could not be more proud of them.
Below, you will find the results of our Remote Learning Experience survey and how we've enhanced our remote learning program in response to your feedback. We've also shared details of some important decisions we've made as a small business.
As you continue reading, keep in mind that our current remote learning plans take us through Friday, May 15. While we want to return to in-person learning as soon as possible, we are bracing for the possibility of remote learning through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. As we've said from the beginning, the health and safety of our students, families, and employees is our first priority, and we will only return to in-person learning when we feel it is safe based on the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health and government officials, and medical experts. We will take a similar decision-making approach to Summer Camp and anticipate knowing whether we will open as scheduled by May 15.
We know these are unsettling times, and we are committed to minimizing the effects of this disruption on our students, families, and employees. Stay in touch and do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time. Additionally, if you are experiencing an immediate financial hardship that could affect your enrollment, we want to help. Shoot me
an email, and we will set up a time to talk.
Even though we can't welcome you in person to campus each morning, know that our entire team is still working hard on behalf of you and your children. We remain guided by our vision and committed to fulfilling our mission: to nurture and challenge our students to develop the skills and courage they need to unleash their full potential.
Thank you for sharing the gift of your children, no matter where they're learning.
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Dr. Kevin Navarro
Head of School
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Thank you to everyone who participated in our Remote Learning Experience survey. In less than 48 hours, we received 155 responses providing a sound review of our remote learning programs to date. Your positive comments and constructive feedback let us know our community is still thriving, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness and intention you shared in every response.
As a community, you told us you were pleased with our remote learning program thus far (and that your children love working in their pajamas all day). You also provided clear direction for us in the coming weeks. We've provided a snapshot of the School's overall performance below, followed by information on the top five services families consistently requested across the divisions.
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- Academic Rigor | In both our Lower and Upper Schools, you asked for academic rigor in the coming weeks. As described in more detail in the following section of this email, we have new sets of learning materials coming to students this week. They are designed to challenge your students, while also acknowledging that each of our families will need to adapt remote learning to their needs.
- Live Lessons | We received a unanimous response from our Upper School families that Live Lessons are a positive experience for their students. We will continue Live Lessons in the Upper School and meaningfully introduce them in the Lower School. More details are in the following section of this email.
- Spanish | We heard your request for continued Spanish language instruction, and our three native Spanish-speaking teachers – Sandra Lee, Rossana Aranda, and Marcela Tejada – are excited to continue to work with our students.
- Social Support | We're all experiencing the isolation that comes with social distancing, and you let us know that social support is important to you. We are exploring support groups and lessons with a certified parenting coach, meeting availability with a licensed counselor, head of school huddles, and more ways students can socially engage with each other outside of their academic lessons. We will share updates with you as some of these plans come to fruition.
- Virtual Community Events | If there's anything we've learned from this experience, it's that the strength of our community is not confined to any physical place. As you requested, we will be hosting some virtual community events in the coming weeks. The GMSCA is already exploring a virtual book fair, movie nights, and more. Feel free to email us any ideas you may have for a virtual community event.
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Remote Learning Enhancements
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Based on your feedback and our expertise in Montessori education, we have made several enhancements to our already strong remote learning programs. As you review these adjustments, please keep these guiding thoughts in mind:
- Remote learning is rooted in family partnership, and we are trying to build systems and processes that help you be your best as a family. Engage the program and the individual learning materials in ways that work for you.
- While academics are fundamental to our remote learning program, please remember that the emotional and psychological health of your children is most important during stressful times. Whenever we return to in-person learning, we will be able to meet each child where they are and go from there. After all, highly personal, individualized learning is what we do best.
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Beginning Monday, April 13, families will enjoy the following improvements to our remote learning programs.
- Remote Learning Websites | With almost 70% of Lower School families asking for a more central place to view assigned work and learning resources, we have built Remote Learning Websites for each classroom. Lower School families will now have a dedicated space to view work for the week, access video lessons, download work plans and worksheets, and schedule one-on-one Video Check-Ins. Upper School families will also have a dedicated space for cultural enrichment video lessons, in addition to their current use of Google Classroom.
- Montessori in the Home Support | We will support all grades, but especially those in the Lower School, with more ways to introduce Montessori philosophy into your home. Families will be able to pick and choose which recommendations work best for them.
- Streamlined Communication | Beginning this weekend, we will send classroom-specific "Week Ahead Emails" with plans and lessons for the entire week. This change is designed to give you a clearer understanding of your child's scope of work for the week and help you create weekly and daily schedules that work best for your student and your family. We will normally send these emails on Sunday, but given this weekend is our first round of "Week Ahead Emails" and many of our families celebrate Easter, we will send the emails on Saturday. We’ll also still send a daily "Good Morning Email" at 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. It will contain a simple “Good Morning Video” for your family to enjoy and will not include critical content or curriculum.
- New Learning Materials | Primary and Lower Elementary students will receive new sets of learning materials in the mail. We know these resources are temporary and do not fully replace the Montessori classroom experience or the relationship we have with your children. We have done our best to gather materials that support our curriculum, while allowing you to decide the schedule and pace of work that best fits your family’s needs. Please do not start working on these materials until we share which materials correspond to which weeks and which lessons in our Sunday “Week Ahead Emails." Upper School students will receive new learning resources through email and Google Classroom.
- Expanded Live Lessons | With the overwhelming success of Live Lessons in the Upper School, and almost 65% of Lower School families requesting Live Lessons, we will expand and enhance our use of Google Hangouts for virtual lessons and community meetings. In the Upper School, we will refine schedules for consistency, keeping a thoughtful eye on students' total time spent on screens. In Primary, we will offer world music lessons with Betsy Bevan and continue to explore weekly meetings for kindergartners. In Lower Elementary, we will work towards two Live Lessons per week, and explore a third lesson for third grade students.
- Focused Video Check-Ins | Our one-on-one Video Check-Ins will be more academically focused so families and faculty can better assess student progress and individualize learning. Furthermore, the "Week Ahead Emails" and work plans will give families and students a better understanding of their work expectations and provide a springboard for focused conversation.
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As we push through this time of uncertainty, we are confident in the long-term financial position of our School. The heads of school and boards of trustees before us were prudent and wise, preparing our small business for moments like these. And we are confident we will continue to fulfill our vision of providing the best personalized and hands-on educational experience for our students for generations to come.
It is now our turn to be prudent and wise on behalf of our students, families, and employees. While our endowment and reserves are strong and definitely secure the overall financial health of our School, our operating budget is understandably stressed, and we anticipate it being under some pressure for months to come. As such, we have temporarily suspended services we can not reasonably provide during this time. Due to the unique challenges of providing remote learning to Toddler students, we have temporarily suspended both in-person and teacher-provided remote learning for our Toddler division. We have also temporarily suspended all before- and after-school care (CASA).
With the temporary suspension of these services, we have made the decision to furlough those respective teammates. We are helping all furloughed teammates apply for the COVID-19 enhanced state and federal benefits available to them. We will continue to pay for their employee benefits, and based on our understanding of the enhanced state and federal unemployment laws, they should not incur financial harm from this situation. I have personally spoken with each furloughed teammate and reassured them of their value to our team, our commitment to them, and our intention to bring them back to work as normal when we resume in-person learning.
We know our families care just as much about our faculty as we do. If you have any questions about these decisions, please do not hesitate to
email me. While we will not be able to discuss specific teammates out of respect for their privacy, I am happy to share more about the processes we followed to reach these decisions.
Although this is personally, professionally, and financially stressful for all of us, we want to assure you that Greensboro Montessori School remains on solid footing. The decisions we have made support both the short- and long-term financial position of the School, and further enable us to welcome students back to school, not only for 2020-21, but for decades to come.
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Greensboro Montessori School
2856 Horse Pen Creek Road, Greensboro, NC 27410
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