Dear Upper School Students and Families,

I hope all is well with you. I wanted to follow up on Kim Samson’s email and video to give you more details on the Upper School plan.

I thought that I would do that best by asking and answering questions.
We shared a big-picture plan with you;
below are more details.
What does the start of school look like?

We will start on September 8 with an expanded orientation that will include both on-campus and online components to:

  • (re)connect and build community;
  • acclimate to and navigate the building and schedule;
  • learn about safety protocols;
  • introduce social-emotional practices;
  • address grade-specific topics.

There will also be a time for Parent/Guardian-Student-Advisor conferences at the end of that week. 
What will the expanded orientation look like in the Upper School?
We are still working on the details and times of the orientation plan and will share more information soon.
What does hybrid mean?
The Upper School will be divided into two groups (1 and 2) that will rotate throughout the week to be on campus and online. Everyone will be online on Mondays. The other four days of the week will be split between the two groups.

  • Here is what the Beaver Upper School schedule looks like.

Please note that depending on the health situation, and in alignment with our pendulum approach, groups may shift to one day on campus (phasing out) or two days or more on campus (phasing in). Of course, you will receive advance notice.

No matter what the scenario is (online, hybrid, or full on campus) our schedule (times of classes, start and end of the day) has been designed to remain the same to ensure consistency for all. Students who are online will follow classes and programming simultaneously.
When will I get more information about my child’s group and their course load?
Today.

You will receive an email from Cynthia Monasterios today with information on the group your student is in for the fall term and their course load for the whole year.

Please note that the groupings were made to respect the students' course choices and to make sure that all sections were kept at a maximum of 9 students at any given time on campus. This means that to maintain our safety practices and keep class size true to the Beaver experience we cannot make changes to the schedule and groups for the fall term. Thank you for your understanding.
What's up next?
In addition, this week you should also expect communication from your child’s advisor, who will email to make a connection prior to the start of the school year.

Also, in the coming weeks and prior to the start of the school year:
  • I will share with you our guidelines and expectations for students for a successful year.
  • I will also share more details on the orientation plan for the Upper School (the schedule for the week of September 8).
I know that this is a lot of information. You may (should) have some questions. Please do not hesitate to email me (I might be shivering as I write this, but please do email). I look forward to connecting with you on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I just want to end this update by assuring you that all the work we put in to create this plan was done with your child’s academic, social, physical, and emotional wellbeing in mind. We also wanted to make sure that safety remained our priority, still keeping the essence of the Beaver learning experience that our students enjoy. We took your, your student’s, and our faculty’s feedback into consideration to design this fall. We looked at the short-term and long-term goals and tried to keep it flexible so that we are prepared for any scenario, be it in September, December, March, or May.

We will continue to check in with you and our students to make sure we respond to the needs of our community. And as always, we will continue to be flexible and to adapt.

This is probably my longest email, so I will stop here.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Director of Upper School