Dear LNC Families,
First, I’d like to thank you for your patience and trust as, together, we have negotiated these last four months. For our families who are new to LNC, I welcome you to our school community and assure you that you are in good care and company. Parents imagined and built our school over 20 years ago and remain a critical fiber of our school body today.
As shared in earlier communications, LNC’s Reopening Task Force, comprised of key staff, worked tirelessly this summer imagining and planning down to the very last detail how to best open school. While safety was the overarching priority, concerns for our students’ social and emotional health and academic needs were a close second and a significant decision driver. To help us, we leaned into 26 parents with diverse expertise, including many with science or medical backgrounds, and I thank them for their assistance.
I appreciate the time the LNC Reopening Task Force devoted, the innovative ideas they brought to the table and their creative problem-solving skills. Mostly I am proud of their willingness to take on a task of such enormity and their dogged commitment to finding not just one way, but three, as directed by the State.
Speaking of the State, like you, we were disappointed that Governor Cooper did not announce which of the three plans schools would reopen under on July 1 as was expected. Reportedly, he will announce the reopening plan this week. We hope that will indeed happen, but time is of the essence for all involved; therefore we want to share our plans to provide comfort and direction so our staff and families can appropriately plan for the school year ahead.
LNC will reopen its school doors on Thursday, August 13 under Plan B, a blended learning format with no more than 50% of students physically in school at any given time. Schools are permitted to open under a more conservative approach than that mandated by the State, so this will be the case even if the State announces that schools will operate under Plan A (100% of students at school at all times). We feel that this is the safest and most prudent choice to ensure a smooth opening with all the changes that will occur to our operations. (You can read more about the reasons for opening in Plan B
HERE.) LNC will operate under Plan B for at least four weeks (through Friday, September 11). During that time, we will monitor data and assess both the school and greater community landscape to decide whether we remain in Plan B or move to another plan.
While we believe it is unlikely the Governor will decide to reopen schools under a full remote learning plan (Plan C), if that were to happen at any point of time we would transition to 100% remote learning.
We know that you have many questions. One of the resulting products of the Task Force is the
LNC Reopening Plan, which we created for parents. Please review it carefully so you and your child know what to expect and can begin making preparations. Some of the key questions the
Reopening Plan answers is which cohort your child will be in and what days they will physically attend school for in-person learning.
We have also overhauled our
FAQs, first created in March, to include a few anticipated questions. The
FAQs are a living document and will continue to expand as we know more information. If, after reviewing both the
Reopening Plan and the
FAQs you still have a question, please ask us using our
Reopening School Questionnaire. Your questions help expand and improve our
FAQs and may even bring an item to our attention we had not yet considered. They also provide us with a “pulse” of the LNC community.
Finally, we know that for some parents, this announcement comes as a relief because you were uneasy about returning with all students physically present at one time, limiting the ability to socially distance. However, a recent survey of North Carolina parents conducted by Elon University found a nearly equal three-way split as to the school reopening plan parents prefer, so we recognize that our decision may not be welcome news for all. This division puts us in an unenviable position, but ultimately, we must make the choice to do what we know is best for the safety of our students, staff and their families while staying true to our deep conviction for student learning, development and overall well-being.
Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership as we continue this uncharted journey together.
Sincerely,
