Dear Wildwood Families,
I hope you are finding time to relax and enjoy these remaining weeks of summer. I cannot express how thrilled I am to join the Wildwood community. Like many of your children, I've spent the last several months envisioning what my first day of school at Wildwood would look like—witnessing the excitement of seeing students meet their teachers for the first time, empathizing with students about being new to the school, and, having moved from the Washington, D.C. area this summer, simply dreaming of enjoying the California sun while eating lunch outdoors.
For now, I will have to practice the Life Skill of Patience, and while I do not wish a cross-country move during a global pandemic on anyone, there's very little that could dampen the joy I'm feeling right now as my family settles into our new life in Los Angeles. The start of the school year is a new adventure. It's exciting—no matter the form it takes.
On the topic of forms, my initial duties at Wildwood this summer have been serving as Lead Pandemic Coordinator and heading our Reopening School Task Force, creating policies, developing enhanced safety practices, and defining our model of distributed learning. This has led to the development of several useful materials for parents, and yes, forms for your review and signature.
When we are able to once again welcome students to campus in cohorts, it will be in a safe and engaging environment. As Landis has mentioned in previous letters, we have undertaken significant work on both campuses, in addition to the exciting renovations already planned for the middle and upper campus, to implement new technology, stock PPE, purchase new desks and classroom materials, and install signage and sanitizing stations, among many other things. I have enjoyed seeing the campuses, but look forward to seeing students and faculty walking through the hallways one day soon.
Guide to Returning to Campus A return to campus will require all of us to adhere to a new set of school guidelines that maximize student and faculty safety. These actions, and the steps and procedures we're implementing are outlined here, in our Guide to Returning to Campus. This Guide will also be available in our COVID-19 Resources page.
Documents to Review and Sign by Aug. 21 The form containing the Technology Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and Return to Campus Agreement is available in Wildwood's Learning Management System (LMS) and requires your review and electronic signature.
While the Technology AUP is updated every year, with an increased reliance on remote technologies such as Zoom, adherence to the Technology AUP is even more critical this year. Parents and guardians are responsible for setting and conveying the standards that their children should follow. Therefore, every student enrolled in classes at Wildwood must read the applicable technology acceptable use policy with their parents, agree to the terms of the policy, and obtain parental permission.
Equally important to this school year is the Return to Campus Agreement. Regardless of the safety measures in place, any interaction with those outside our families—including a return to campus—will involve some risk. But by each of us doing our part, we can minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission and hopefully ensure uninterrupted on-campus operation.
To access these required forms, please click here to log into the LMS with your username and password. If it is your first time logging in, click on the green link to obtain a username and password. Once you are logged in, you will find a yellow banner at the top of the page indicating that you have a form to review. Click on the blue link within the yellow banner. This will bring you to a page listing all forms needing to be submitted.
Lastly, we invite you to join us for our two upcoming coffees, which will provide more details on our schedule for the start of the school year. The elementary coffee will be held this afternoon (Thursday, Aug. 13) at 3:30 p.m. Please click here if you have not yet registered and are able to make it. The middle and upper coffee is scheduled for tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 14) at 3:30 p.m. You may register here.
Thank you for such a warm welcome to Wildwood. I look forward to getting to know you and your children, and eventually being able to put "Zoom boxes" to faces in person!
Be well,
Christina Kyong Associate Head of School Wildwood School |