Week Ahead: May 11-15

Overall, Friday was an amazing success. You all noted many positives and things that went well on the faculty survey. Here are a few comments that sum up the major themes:

• The energy in the building was one of receptive engagement and positive interaction.
• Procedures were easy to understand. The students were much more adept at finding ways to socialize and play than I expected.
• Went a billion times better than I thought it would.

There were also lots of suggestions for improvements. Most centered around passing times, free time locations at lunch, and the long time teachers went without breaks … and will go without breaks if they are on the G8 team and teach the 2 morning blocks. Another large problem I noted was the exit from campus. The plan didn’t work. The students did not maintain social distancing AT ALL on the way out. ? Please see the information below this week’s calendar for how we will be adjusting for now. We will continue to see how things go Monday and Tuesday – and continue to adjust as needed.

Here is what’s up this week:

Monday, May 11
Day 5, CDAB (Advisory)
8:30 – Show the mask update video to students. I will email this to you as soon as I get it done.

Tuesday, May 12
Day 6, GHEF (Advisory)

Wednesday, May 13
Day 7, DABC (Tutorial)
3:45-4:45 Vietnamese class
3:50-4:20 HOS All School Mtg (Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/93666044967?pwd=enlmNnV3bjU4OXpNUlJnQUowMk1wZz09

Thursday, May 14
Day 8, HEFG (Tutorial)

Friday, May 15
Day 1, ABCD (House League)

Upcoming (on the radar)

• May 15: Deadline for parents/students to select credit/no credit option
• May 18 – reminder: changed from early release to full day instruction
• June 3: Final school day for students
• June 4: Final work day for faculty

Changes for Monday:  Please note these changes and review them with students as needed throughout the day:

• Per the new directive and Catriona’s message, masks are now optional in the classroom (this includes the PE “classroom” be it gym or field). Students will each be given a plastic bag for mask storage (I have no idea how those are getting to you … so use paper towels until they arrive). Any time students are out of the classroom they MUST wear their masks. So before you let any child out of the classroom, they need their masks on – as do you (even to cross the hall to another teacher’s classroom). Students must wear them in the library and Dragon’s Den at all times. Students must wear them during “recess” which is our Free Time. This means they must wear them in the gym and field during Free Time. Yes, this doesn’t match … but it’s how the directive reads.
• Move all desk washing to the passing time (no need to start early) this will assist with better evaluating the length of time for passing between blocks).
• The passing times in the DEAR/Lunch/Free Time rotation has been shortened to 5 minutes. This is now a tab titled Schedule 2.0 on the Google Doc. Do not release any student early. All teachers need to assist with hall supervision as the passing times are all at the same time now. Note: this makes blocks 70 min. long now.
• Students will line up for lunch in two places (home lunch by the home lunch door; purchase lunch at the main entrance to the cafe). They will need to space out (and I know this will go all the way up the stairs into the 2nd floor hall) and wait until their time to enter the cafeteria.
• Last block teachers will walk their students to the turnstile gates with proper social distancing.
• We are working on getting the needed desks for your rooms. Remember: We are not changing the guidelines for social distancing in the classroom yet.

For the other issues to address, we will work on these as fast as possible. Here is a summary of the other major issues noted by faculty:

• How can we make free/play time better – more equitable, easier to manage numbers, ways to supervise social distancing as they move around DEAR/Lunch/Free Time; what to do if outside isn’t an option?
• How can we support teachers who will have an 8-12:45 or 12:10-3:30 teaching/duty load on some days (when G8 team teachers teach the 1st 2 blocks of the day or when G6 team members teach the last 2 blocks of the day)?
• Can we have more training for the lunch duty stations?
• How could we minimize the duty needs during Free Time?
• Can we evaluate how long passing time needs to be as students and teachers get better/faster at routines?

Travel Guidelines: Catriona shared this in her HOS update. Right now a lot of information is coming at us very quickly. There is nothing that we can really do about that but duplicate communication and continually check for clarification needs. From Catriona’s email: Last but not least, please find the updated May 2020 SSIS Professional and Personal Travel Guidelines (COVID-19). There have been significant additions to the travel guidelines, and I encourage you all to read them carefully. These guidelines will be updated again when the world circumstances improve.