Important Updates from the Returning to School Taskforce
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Dear Parents,

It’s hard to believe it’s the beginning of August! We hope that you and your family are well and enjoying the summer together. We know that many questions remain about what is in store for this fall. If ever there were a time that called for flexibility and creativity, that time is now! We are proud of the great strides we have made toward planning for the upcoming school year. We write to offer a window into the ongoing work in which we are currently engaged to prepare for the year ahead.

We would like to reiterate that in-person learning remains our primary plan for the coming school year. That said, we are simultaneously working toward the necessary alternative scenarios while continuing to monitor this ever-changing situation and prepare for in-person learning using creative strategies. This includes an improved distance learning program and an emphasis on outdoor learning . In our last communication we shared information about many of these strategies. Below are some more details on these pieces.

Outdoor Classrooms
As we continually ask ourselves how we can be true to who we are as a Waldorf school, and how to incorporate healthy mitigation strategies for safety, the prospect of bringing our teaching and learning outdoors comes up again and again. Outdoor learning is supported by parents, faculty, and medical professionals alike. As communities in larger cities in Wisconsin make the decision to “go virtual,” outdoor learning is becoming a major focus for us as a viable alternative to this option.

Here are the Outdoor Classroom assignments faculty has chosen and approved. Please stay tuned for additional information about special projects and work days if you would like to help to get them ready!

Parent-Child – Newly designed playground space
Kindergartens - Located in the lower area at Growing For Good (GFG)
Grade 1 - Playground Longhouse extending to hill with 10 little logs for seated activities
Grade 2/3 - Playground - New grassy area or NW area, TBA
Grade 4 - GFG Hoop house #1 – re-erecting in process, top covered with side open
Grade 5 - GFG “Retail” area - top covered with side open
Grade 6 - GFG Hoop house #2 – re-erecting in process, top covered with side open
Grade 7 - Wooded Acre. Facilities class parents are collaborating.
Grade 8 - Hoop house #8 – ends opened for increased ventilation

Portable toilets and handwashing stations will be made available at GFG. PRWS Main Building bathrooms will be available for those in outdoor classrooms on campus. As previously stated, classroom pods will move together and there will be minimal interaction with other pods.

All indoor and outdoor spaces have been measured and the classroom layout will be set up to accommodate each class’s current size with 6 foot distancing between seats/desks and 12 foot distancing for the teacher when “orating.” This will allow for plenty of room for a variety of activities, from large movements to seated bookwork.

More information will be forthcoming regarding how the outdoor classrooms will fit into the schedule of the school day (i.e. any changes to drop off/pick up locations, how to get communication to students and teachers’ mid-day, and other logistics).

We are excited about the healthy, creative possibilities that these locations allow and feel fortunate to have them as part of our school campus and plan.
 
Scenarios
Schools need to have multiple scenarios prepared to be able to adapt to the local situation as it changes around us. Multiple scenarios will be part of our Back to School plan right up to and during the school year.

Here are the scenarios that are being prepared for at PRWS:

1.    In-person with a blend of indoor/outdoor learning. Each class will have a goal of a minimum of 3 hours in an outdoor classroom.
2.    In-person with exclusively outdoor learning
3.    In-person with outdoor mornings and at-home distance learning afternoons
4.    Exclusively distance learning

We will be prepared to pivot to the above scenarios during the year as needed. The scenario we begin the year with will be partially determined by the status of Vernon County on the Coulee Compass. We will continue to monitor additional resources, including our own county health department, regional health departments, WI DPI, and more. We are also being kept well-apprised of the changing situation and are being advised in creating metrics that make sense for our region and school by physician parent Dr. Martha Karlstad.

Additional Work for Back-To-School
We would like to share some of the many other tasks underway as this communication reaches you:

•    A Health and Safety plan incorporating all our measures for these times is underway and should be available to share by mid-August.
•    A ventilation plan for indoor spaces has been created by the facilities committee based on guidelines from leading experts and is being implemented.
•   New families, school tours, and applications are coming in.
•   Classroom and hallway waxing is complete and teachers are setting up their new classrooms, following physical distancing parameters.
•   Teachers are undergoing their summer curriculum trainings, including material that directly addresses teaching during the pandemic.
•   Our initial reopening checklist has been filled out and sent to Vernon County Health Department. There will be follow up and updates to this checklist as the school year approaches.
•   Outdoor classrooms are being finalized. Clearing and building will begin this week and continue into August.
•   Full Faculty is meeting every 2 weeks and class/subject/EC sections are meeting in alternate weeks to be apprised of the Return to School Task Force work, to make decisions regarding how school will look, and to work together to prepare for all scenarios.
•   Faculty is also working on:
  • A robust substitute list and subbing logistics plan
  • A new daily schedule that maintains balance between main lesson, skills and subject classes, while accommodating necessary changes.
  • Logistics to avoid hallway and entrance/exit congestion.
  • Distance learning training and agreements for teachers, students, and parents.
•   A Distance Learning work group is prepping Google Classroom and helping to train faculty. If we must teach remotely, it will be much improved, building upon what we learned last spring and from your survey feedback.
•   A face covering mandate for the State of Wisconsin was released Thursday of this week, to begin August 1st. We will be incorporating the mandate into our final plans, which will be released by mid-August.
• Guidelines around instances that would necessitate going to at-home learning for our independent, small school are being established. These are based on potential scenarios such as rising positive cases in the county, region, and in our direct community.
• Many Zoom calls and Webinars are being attended by teachers and staff: County health, Anti-racism training, Music-specific webinars regarding Covid transmission, Early Childhood, and more.

We want to ensure you have plenty of anticipatory guidance for the coming year and have all of your questions answered. There is so much to consider amidst an influx of nearly constant new information and changing guidelines. We appreciate your continued patience as we navigate it all. In the meantime, please know we stand by our promise around transparency and will keep you abreast of all decisions as they are made.  We will do so via these email updates and also our COVID-19 page on our website at www.pleasantridgewaldorf.org/our-school/covid-19/ .

In the coming days, we will announce an all-school town hall meeting whereby parents, faculty, and board can come together as a community to prepare for the year ahead. If, in the interim, you have any questions or concerns, please contact a member of the Returning to School Task Force directly. Your outreach to any one of us is always most welcome and appreciated.

In Partnership,

PRWS Returning to School Task Force

Joe Lenarz, Carrie Treviranus, Stephanie Brown, Aaron Schmidt, Robin Kottke, Mark Brudos, Marinella Pro, Martha Karlstad, Melissa Madura, Stephanie Pedretti & Jordan Brudos