I hope this email finds you well, and having had a moment to read and digest Willard’s email earlier today. I want to make sure that you have clarity on what delaying the start of school until Thursday, September 17 means for our school community.

Our faculty team will begin our meetings on campus this coming Monday, August 24, as scheduled. We have been planning, ordering, and getting classroom spaces ready (see attached pics.) and cannot wait to welcome students to campus in a few weeks. We will be ready and waiting for students to arrive on September 17, with all indoor and outdoor spaces fully equipped for learning safely in a Covid-19 environment. Not only that, but we will have a ‘bag of tools and tricks’ to make our learning and play at school both fun and engaging with these new protocols in place!

I appreciated seeing all of you at our Town Hall meetings last week and hearing your questions and concerns about the upcoming school year. We will revisit and expand upon the topics that were discussed during our virtual orientation sessions. There will be plenty of time during these orientation meetings to get to know each other, to hear more about various aspects of our program and protocols, and to go over school norms and guidelines. 

We will start virtual orientation sessions as planned, during the week of August 31. We hope to expand our orientation time with you to include the weeks of September 7 and 14. Please note that we are sharing only an overview of our first week with you today. During the weeks of September 7 and 14, we would like to schedule a few more parent/caregiver meetings, as well as some Zoom meetings for student cohorts. I will share a draft of this schedule next week.

It will be important for us to hear more about your child’s computer access at home, and the timing of the day that works best for a class meeting. Your child’s teacher will be reaching out to you next week by email or phone to make sure that you and your child have what you need to participate in our orientation sessions. 

Family Virtual Orientation Sessions Week of Aug. 31- Sept. 4

Tuesday 9/1

• 4-5 PM- All new parents/caregivers (adults only)
• 7-8 PM- Returning parents/caregivers (adults only)

Wednesday 9/2

• 7-8 PM- New and returning parents/caregivers in small groups (adults only)

Thursday 9/3

• 4-5 PM- ‘Meet and Greet’- Class cohort meetings for parents/caregivers and students

What’s ahead next week:

We will share an updated copy of our handbook, and I will be sure to highlight the important additions or changes that have been made. 

The entire family orientation schedule will be shared after we connect with you to hear more about computer access and timing of Zoom meetings.

A school roster and class list is coming your way! Once students are on campus we will re-share this list with a photo of each child. 

I know many folks are curious about getting access to contact information so that you can start communicating with each other. As soon as we have all permission slips returned, we can then compile a list of family contact information (this list typically gets shared in September). The good news is that we will have opportunities to start chatting with each other in just another week or so, which will be the start of building our foundation as a community. 

Jenny, Lorna, and I will reach out to you next week. We look forward to starting the year with you!

Sincerely,

Kat

Katherine R. Cassidy
Head of Elementary and Middle School and 6/7/8 Teacher