Dear Friends,
One of the classic conversations in my field is the question of whether or not independent schools are businesses. We operate with business models, we utilize the kinds of strategies and structures familiar to businesses, and—one of the reasons I enjoy the work so much—we can be responsive to the needs of our constituents. A colleague once summed it up best by observing that, "Healthy schools operate like businesses, but they're not businesses. They're schools."
Still, there is much that we—as schools—can learn from business. I'd argue that the converse is true, as well, but I'll save that for another time. I raise it now, having just re-connected with a Harvard Business Publishing article about managing polarities. In the article, Larry Clark, the managing director of global learning solutions, writes, "A polarity, or paradox, is a situation in which opposing forces within a system pull at each other to keep things balanced."
I can think of few times in my career when the tensions between competing priorities have been more pronounced than this summer, as we are all—students, teachers, parents, and administrators—faced with the fact that, for a host of reasons, we want to be in each other's presence and none of us want to get COVID-19. Talk about a paradox. Clark hits the nail on the head, writing, "But we humans are uncomfortable with that tension. We just plain don't like it. In fact, it makes us so uncomfortable, we see it as a problem. And what do we do with problems? We solve them." Clark goes on to write about the need for us to, "…embrace both 'truths' and manage the tension between them over time," and, to an observation I'd shared in my most recent letter to you, "Let go of the expectation that stable certainty is the norm, and instead lean into ambiguity and promote experimentation."
We will be back together again on the campuses of Wildwood School. As you know, I look forward to that day, and my colleagues and I have spent the last four months preparing for it, but it won't be August 24. We will launch the 2020-2021 academic year offsite, ready to pivot to onsite learning in our cohorts as soon as we are able. This news is disappointing to some, and a relief to others. The state's markers for having Los Angeles County removed from the watch list simply won't have been met in time for us to be together. Earlier this week the Department of Public Health underscored the fact that the indicators are currently too high to warrant them welcoming the waiver applications that will eventually be available to TK-6 programs.
Although we'd hoped to launch the year onsite and will be prepared for our return in the cohorts described in previous communications, my colleagues and I have also been preparing for offsite instruction all along, knowing that there was a likelihood we'd be called to make the shift between the two at least once over the course of the pandemic. Offsite schedules are being finalized, after months of work and taking into account what worked well this spring and what needed improvement after our unforeseen pivot to offsite instruction back in March. Our offsite schedule plans will be the topic of conversation in a coffee with the school directors scheduled for next week. You may register via this Zoom link, or in the forthcoming invitation.
As we've prepared for two weeks of professional development, which will launch on Monday, we surveyed teachers to determine their areas of interest. They were asked questions such as: Think about your teaching and/or classroom needs and complete this sentence: I wish there were a way to…
Think of your students and complete either or both of these sentences: I wish there were a way they could... and I wish they knew how to… Teachers were also asked if there were skills or tools they'd be willing to share with others during our first ever Unconference Day. In classic Wildwood fashion, multiple colleagues offered themselves up.
Meanwhile, the preparation for our eventual return to campuses continues. New technology, PPE, individual student desks, EPA-recommended cleansers, handwashing stations, and much more have been arriving in recent weeks and will continue to arrive. Associate Head of School Christina Kyong has been taking the lead as our Pandemic Coordinator. She's had the help of Director of Advancement Kristin Hampton and almost two dozen K-12 colleagues serving on the Reopening of School Task Force. Assistant to the Director of Elementary and Auxiliary Programs Director Melanie Benefiel and Director of Athletics Billy DuMone have agreed to serve as Pandemic Campus Coordinators, working directly with Christina on all things COVID-19. The three of them have been in several weeks of Pandemic Coordinator Response training this summer. Thank you to all of them—and so many others—for keeping the preparations moving forward.
Some of our students and the parents of our younger students were, no doubt, disappointed to hear the recent news that L.A. County wouldn't yet be accepting applications for the school waivers introduced by the governor several weeks ago and outlined in more detail last week. Several colleagues and I participated in another Department of Public Health teleconference yesterday afternoon, in which Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer walked us through the details. When Los Angeles County's case numbers per 100,000 people decline toward 200, from a current 350, they will release the waiver application in anticipation of hitting the 200 target.
Between now and the time when waiver applications are available, we will continue preparing our documentation. Our plan includes consulting with both colleagues and parents in the affected grades to understand the level of interest in and support for our waiver application. Please watch for more information on that front.
As she has in previous calls, Dr. Ferrer sounded a hopeful note, pointing to a significant decrease in COVID-19-related hospitalizations in recent weeks and the clarity surrounding now commonly understood mitigation strategies as being the key to getting back on track. She also, as ever, emphasized the fact that we—individually and collectively—have the power to slow transmission and get children and young adults back to school.
Watch for some updates from Christina next week. Until then, be well.
Warmly,
Landis Wildwood School |