Dear families,
It’s hard to believe that our distance learning plan launched just last week. We continue to learn so much about how to best support our students, teachers, and parents as we adapt to this new model. As our distance learning program continues to evolve, we know that our success is directly related to our capacity for being resilient, flexible, and patient with ourselves and others. The shifting landscape requires us to adapt, and the lack of certainty can naturally lead to heightened anxiety. We recognize that this is a challenging time for everyone. Students, who are accustomed to regular interaction with peers and close daily relationships with teachers, may feel isolated, confused, or anxious. Parents find themselves stepping in to support their children’s learning, and may have uncertainty about content, technology, and expectations.
Some of the steps we’ve taken to respond to these emerging needs are acquiring new devices for fourth and fifth grade, implementing upgrades to our Zoom account in order to offer secure learning environments with a universal password, and streamlining communications to reduce overload. Teachers are rapidly finding ways of shifting curriculum delivery, developing new systems, and keeping students engaged and connected. We want to ensure that we are providing the right set of tools and clear and manageable goals as we navigate this together.
As I shared before, the most important thing is that you care for yourself and your family’s needs. One of the most important takeaways from this past week is that there is a broad spectrum of experiences within our community. We want you to know that we hear all of the different needs, expectations, successes, and challenges, and are using them to inform our program moving forward.
As this new week begins, I want to thank you for your continued partnership.
Take care,
Andrew
