October 28, 2020
Dear Lab School Families,
This is my second short communication this week on an important topic related to implementing our hybrid pilot across all four divisions by next week.
COVID-19 has challenged us in many ways, and we recognize that some among us are at higher risk of adverse impacts from this disease due to pre-existing health-related conditions for themselves or immediate family members. These factors play into individual decisions about mitigating risk, including returning to in-person classroom experiences.
In each division, we will have teachers who will continue teaching virtually during our hybrid pilot. Likewise, some families are unable or have chosen not to have their students return in-person for the hybrid pilot. We have allocated additional staffing to provide proctors in the classrooms for those teachers who are not able to teach in-person during this hybrid pilot. The assigned teacher will still be the one developing lesson plans, assessing students, and delivering instruction. Our technology department has been working to ensure that both teachers and students – whether virtual or in-person – will be able to engage productively with each other. While we certainly expect a significant learning curve during this hybrid pilot, we fully expect to serve all of our students effectively.
We recognize that students attending in-person may be disappointed not to be with a particular teacher on-campus; however, we believe that the in-person social interaction and engagement with classmates, teachers, and proctors will be beneficial to the learning experience.
We will continue to work with faculty on health-related concerns and other issues that impact their ability to return, so that as we move through and beyond this pilot, we can have as many of our teachers back on campus as possible. Likewise, we will work with individual families to address questions about risk mitigation so that when we return from the holidays, we are able to have as many students as possible back as well.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or your division head if you have questions during the hybrid pilot. We expect to learn much from our hybrid pilot and will make needed adjustments to our programs, plans, and protocols. We will continue to invest in additional technology resources and professional development in order to deliver the best possible teaching and learning environment in these challenging times.
With warm regards,
