Page 33 - BusinessWest September 14 2020

The Experiment Begins
After a Summer of Strategizing, Private Schools Welcome Students Back
By Joseph Bednar
Brian Easler learned a saying during his time in the Army: “two is one, and one is none.”
It’s a way of stressing the importance of having a backup plan — and he certainly put that concept into action this summer.
“The idea is, anything can fail at any time. You have to have a backup,” said Easler, head of school at Wilbraham & Mon- son Academy (WMA). “We did everything we could think of to make the campus as safe as possible. We have layers of filters where, even if one preventive measure seems duplicative of something else we’ve done, we did both anyway.”
For instance, all HVAC systems on cam- pus were updated and fitted with ionizers to filter air. But the school also bought 287 Honeywell HEPA air purifiers, similar to what hospitals use, and placed one in every room on campus. And when public-health officials said students at school could stay three feet apart while wearing masks, WMA kept a six-foot standard.
“Again,” he told BusinessWest, “we’re lay- ering precautions on top of precautions.”
The reason is simple: parents want to send their kids to school to learn in per- son — despite its widespread use, no one
Some of the outdoor spaces Academy Hill School will repurpose for class time this fall — weather permitting.
believes remote learning is the best option from an academic and social perspective — and they also want to feel their kids will be safe.
Melissa Earls is a believer in in-person learning, which is why, as head of school at Academy Hill School in Springfield, she has spent the last several months making sure
“The idea is, anything can fail at any time. You have to have a backup.”
the campus is safe.
And not only because younger students
— unlike WMA, Academy Hill is a pre-K to grade 8 school — have a tougher time han- dling remote education without the physi- cal presence of parents, who often simulta- neously hold jobs.
“It’s not just the autonomy factor, but what’s developmentally appropriate,” she said. “It’s just not developmentally appro- priate for students that young to be in
In person or at home...learning is back!
See how
WILBRAHAM & MONSON ACADEMY opened safely and successfully at
www.wma.us/back.
BUILDING HISTORY
SINCE 1897
The Coach House, Northampton, MA Photography by CHODOS, Inc.
Jennifer Adams
Director of Business Development 413-584-0310 | www.dasullivan.com 82-84 North St., Northampton, MA
BusinessWest
EDUCATION
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 33