Dear Parents-
Although school has been continuing over the last two-plus weeks, it certainly hasn't been "business as usual". We are, however, still having school and our overall academic plans for the year have not changed. This unplanned closure has caused us some challenges, but this truly has been more of a logistical inconvenience than an academic one. And so I do have some thoughts that I think are worth sharing.
We all acknowledge, from teachers to students to parents, that this is not how we want to be teaching. We believe in face-to-face education in classrooms, on fields, and in studios; we believe in collaborating in person, with real-time interaction; we believe in the benefits of kids being with other kids. What we are doing is a temporary solution to what we know is a temporary situation. But that doesn't mean that what we are doing has necessarily been a loss.
Throughout this time we have seen that most of our students are highly engaged in the work and some have even participated more in digital discussions than they do during regular classes. After we return to school it might take some time before we will be able to truly assess where there are gaps, if any, as almost every class modified in some way what they otherwise would have been doing over the days we would have been at school. We do, however, know that we will end the year having taught the skills we had always planned to teach.
I also feel it is important to share my admiration for the adaptability, the creativity and the grit of our teachers. From the moment we let teachers know that we were to be closed for three weeks, news that came only a few days before this was set to begin, our teachers stepped forward to suggest ways that we could make this work. Good educators know how to adapt to changing situations. It is one of the purest tests for the quality of any professional: How well do you perform when things don't go as planned? Certainly the best golfers are not the ones who make par from the middle of the fairway. They are the ones who make par when they are behind a tree. And they will be behind a tree eventually.
I have not been here that long but this mini-crisis has taught me a lot about the people I work with. Positivity abounds. The spirit and can-do attitude is inspirational. As much as the administration is making decisions about how to proceed, it is the teachers who are making it happen, who are responding in the moment, who are finding ways to support kids' needs from a distance, who are finding new ways to do what they do.
The hallways at school are mostly quiet, save for the occasional teacher or team of teachers coming in to work with each other. This might not be "business as usual", but in many ways, it really is. Everyone here is thoughtfully, constantly thinking about how we can make your children's school experience the best it can be. And everyone agrees that we cannot wait to have the kids back in the hallways as that is what makes school school.
Please enjoy this short video that the Middle School administrative team put together for you to watch with your child. It contains a few updates and reminders for everyone.
All the best,
Josh Budde
Middle School Principal