Page 34 - BusinessWest September 14 2020

front of a screen for so long. It’s also an abstract concept to engage in virtual learning, seeing
their friends on a Brady Bunch Zoom screen. For them, it’s an abstract concept to wrap their heads around. Developmentally, we much prefer having them here with us.”
That’s not to say classes don’t look a little dif- ferent these days.
“We’re a small private school, and we typi- cally have a lot of collaborative tables, reflective of our instructional model. We’ve replaced them with rows and columns of desks, which was not our style,” Earls explained. “We also purchased tents to create outdoor spaces, sheltered from the sun, and even the rain, to respond to the space challenge.”
John Austin, head of school at Deerfield Acad- emy, in a letter to parents last month, outlined the many precautions and protocols unfolding to make the campus safe (more on that later). But he also stressed that students have to buy in to make it work.
“We know from experience — and science tells us with near-certainty — that wearing masks, physical distancing, and enhanced hygiene can help mitigate the spread of this virus. And that is what, together, we will endeavor to accomplish. We begin the year knowing that our students will arrive ready to express their care for others by fol- lowing these simple expectations,” he wrote.
Noting that students must sign a ‘commu-
nity health pledge,’ he called the document “an attempt to clearly and explicitly capture that ethos of care, citizenship, and sacrifice that will allow us to return to school safely and be together as a campus community.”
In other words, if students want to be on cam- pus — and private schools throughout the region are definitely emphasizing that model — they know they’re all in it together. It’s an intriguing experiment in the first fall semester of the COVID- 19 era, one that follows a summer that was also unlike any other.
Team Effort
The first question at Academy Hill, Earls said, was whether the campus had the space and abil- ity to pull off on-campus learning.
“Once we knew we could do this, it became a priority to get them back,” she said. “Getting here was a team effort. What impressed us was the selflessness of everyone who worked all summer long. Actually, they didn’t have a summer. The plan was constantly evolving, and everyone was so generous with their time and their thoughts.”
While students are expected to be on cam- pus if they’re not sick, a blended learning option
is available for those who have to quarantine because they or a family member have been exposed to coronavirus. At the same time, if a fac- ulty member is exposed, but is able to teach from home, students
proud of them.”
He added that WMA isn’t among the wealthiest
private schools, but he’s pleased with the invest- ments that have been made, from campus reno-
will attend classes on campus while the teacher instructs from a remote loca- tion, with the assistance of technology.
“
students that young to be in front of a screen for so long. It’s also an abstract concept to engage in virtual learning, seeing their friends on a Brady Bunch Zoom screen.”
MELISSA EARLS
It’s just not developmentally appropriate for
And, of
course, in an
echo of the
spring, when
schools and colleges across the U.S. shut down and switched to online learning, Academy Hill will be able to do so if a viral spike forces such a move — but it won’t be so on the fly this time, as teachers engaged in professional development over the summer to prepare for the possibility of remote learning.
“Our plan is a living document,” Earls said. “We looked at CDC and state guidelines, and our goal was to exceed them. When they shortened the physical distance to three feet, we still do six feet apart. We made sure we were meeting or exceeding all the guidelines, and we shared every iteration of the plan with families. I sent notes home weekly over the summer, if not moreso.”
Easler said prepping WMA for an influx of stu- dents included renovating a former school meet- ing space into a second dining hall, installing new bathrooms in a boys’ dorm, and, perhaps most dramatically, instituting an aggressive testing pro- gram. The school engaged with a lab at MIT to implement twice-weekly testing for all students, faculty, and staff, with no more than four days between tests.
“The rationale is, the only way to prevent widespread transmission on campus is to know where the virus is, especially with a population that’s often asymptomatic. And the only way to know where the virus is, is to test. The testing pro- gram is our first defense.”
Easler spoke with BusinessWest the second day students were on campus, and said students were adapting well to the new protocols, which include mandatory masks, although there are outdoor mask-free zones that offer some relief. Among close to 400 students at WMA, only 64 have opted for remote learning this fall.
“The kids seem pretty happy; it’s encouraging to see how quickly they adapted to everything. Kids are adaptable in general, but we’re still really
vations to the testing plan. “Testing is expensive, but it’s worth every penny.”
Testing, Testing
To a similar end, Deerfield Academy has part- nered with Concentric by Ginkgo, a program that provides COVID-19 testing in support of schools and businesses. Students were tested before they arrived on campus, as soon as they arrived, and again several days after. Weekly testing will con- tinue for students, faculty, and staff throughout the fall term.
The school will also employ daily reporting and symptom screening and has prepared guide- lines for contact tracing in order to quickly iso- late any positive cases and quarantine all close contacts. In addition, all boarding students have single rooms, and weekend off-campus travel is being limited, as are family visits.
Meanwhile, a new, modular academic sched- ule will reduce the number of classes students take over the course of the day and gather them in smaller classes, and all HVAC systems have been fitted with advanced air filters, and are circulating fresh, filtered air at an increased rate.
“In my 35 years in education, never before have I seen such effort, sacrifice, and commit- ment to mission,” Austin wrote. “Every member of our community has generously given their time and effort over these summer months to prepare the campus and its buildings to safely welcome students.”
Easler agreed. “We did lot of work over the summer, meaning we really didn’t get much of a summer,” he said, adding that part of the process was training faculty on the Canvas learning-man- agement platform,
allowing them to
teach face-to-face
Schools
Continued on page 51
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