August 29, 2020 Dear BB&N Families, We are all so excited to be tracking to open school in the Hybrid model on September 9th and 10th. That said, speaking fellow BB&N parent Jen Price, I fully understand that Dr. Jennifer Price, Head of School, has been sending you a ton of information to process over these past few weeks! With that awareness in mind, I thought it would be helpful to share with you today a To-Do Checklist of things you need to make sure you have in place before your child/ren start school on September 9th/10th.

TO-DO CHECKLIST

Do You Plan to Opt Your Child/ren to Participate in @Home Learning? As noted in the Connected@Home plan I sent on Thursday evening, families need to complete this form by Monday, August 31 at 10:00 AM, if you plan to have your child/ren participate in @Home learning when school starts. You do not need to let us know if your child/ren will participate in on-campus learning.

Have You Signed Up Your Child/ren for COVID-19 Testing? As I wrote to you on Wednesday, we are providing free, on-site baseline testing for all students, faculty, and staff who will be accessing BB&N in person during the Hybrid model. The drive-through testing will take place on September 3, 4, and 8 at our 46 Belmont Street property. As of this morning, 833 of 1,033 students have been signed up for a testing slot. If your child will be accessing on-campus learning and has not yet been signed up for testing, you need to complete this form by Monday, August 31. If you plan to provide the school with a negative PCR test result administered elsewhere within a week before 9/8, please inform Janine Loumiet-Couch at jcouch@bbns.org. Your child’s test result should be scanned to healthforms@bbns.org or faxed to 617-649-8045.

Have You Completed the uKnighted CommunityCOVID-19 Pledge? All families are required to read and sign our uKnighted Community COVID-19 Pledge before the first day of school. This pledge embodies the trust and responsibility we all share to keep our community as safe as possible this year. If you have not yet signed the pledge, you can access it on the Forms page on the BB&N Parent Portal.

Make Sure Your Health Form Is Completed and Immunizations Are in Order Completed Health Forms are also required for students to start the school year. Please make sure your child/ren’s form(s) have been submitted by next week. You can access the Health Form on the Forms page on the BB&N Parent Portal.  New students need to provide a full immunization history, and returning students need only to update their immunization history. Special attention should be paid to students entering Kindergarten and Grade 7, as these are checkpoints where the requirements may change. Also, families should be aware of the new requirement established by the state for all K-12 students to receive an influenza vaccination by December 31, 2020.

Are You Interested in Accessing Knight School? (Grades 7-12) Knight School is a program designed to help Middle and Upper School students access teaching and learning from a school environment on their remote learning days. See here for more information. So that we can plan effectively for the launch of Knight School, any interested families need to complete this Knight School Registration Form by Wednesday, September 2 at 5 PM to confirm your child’s overall interest as well as their attendance for the week of September 14.

Has Your Child/ren Indicated Their Fall Athletics/Activity Choice? (Grs 7-12) The fall athletics and activities program will begin for Middle and Upper School students during the week of September 14th. In advance of that, every MS and US student/family needs to indicate their top two options for a sports or activity choice this fall by filling out this Middle School signup form or this Upper School signup form by September 1st. (Upper Schoolers can also fill out a waiver form.)

Have You Done ImPACT Testing (Grs 7, 9, 11 + new 8s and 10s)? BB&N students are required to take a baseline ImPACT test every two years to help evaluate recovery in the event of a concussion. BB&N conducts ImPACT testing for Grades 7, 9, and 11 and all new 8th and 10th grade students. Click here for information on how to complete the online testing at home by September 7th.

Interested in Bus Transportation? BB&N provides bus transportation to more than 15 communities in the Greater Boston area. Any BB&N student may participate in the Transportation Program for the morning and afternoon, morning only or afternoon only. Registration—which opened on August 12th—is on a first come, first served basis. If you wish to participate and have not yet signed up, click here to register.

What Materials Do You Need for the First Day on Campus? Be sure that your child has a mask to wear for their first day on campus. We will be giving every student two masks (one blue, one gold) during their first day of school. Students should also bring a water bottle to school which they can refill as needed.

What's for Lunch? Lunch will be served for students on all campuses. Look out for the lunch signup in the next few days. The preliminary menu for the first two weeks of school can be found here. Please ensure you send a water bottle to school with your child as drinks will not be served with lunch this year.

Reminder About Opening Week Schedule As my Wednesday letter explained, providing baseline COVID-19 over the next week and a half will impact the schedule for our first week of school as follows: The Upper School and Middle School will begin remotely on Wednesday, September 9. Thursday, September 10 will be the first in-person day for the first half of the MS/US hybrid group (Grades 7, 9, 10). Friday, September 11 will be the first in-person day for the second half of the MS/US hybrid group (Grades 8,11,12).  The Lower School will begin in person on Thursday, September 10, with half of the students and then will welcome the other half of the students on Friday, September 11. LS faculty will use Tuesday and Wednesday of that week to conduct virtual check-in conferences with families.    Mr. Reppucci, Ms. Dolbear, and Mr. Theobald will be in touch over the next few days with more information about what the first week of school will look like on each campus.    We held new employee virtual orientation this week and this coming Tuesday will be our Opening Meeting for all faculty and staff. That means that the start of school is right around the corner, and we at BB&N are all so excited for that time to arrive! Wishing you all well in these remaining days of summer vacation.    Best,   Jen Price '23

P.S. We shared a special Graduation video with the Class of 2020 earlier this week. This terrific group of recent graduates didn’t have the opportunity to celebrate this ceremony together in person, so we wanted to create this video to honor their four years at the Upper School. They represented BB&N so well during their time among us, and they are going on to great adventures. We wish them all the best! P.P.S. A reminder that if you or your family are struggling in any way due to the implications of the pandemic, please let us know via this confidential form. We are ready to help in any way we can!