03.23.20: Evening update

From: Julie Smith, Head of School
Subject: Week Two begins; initial feedback from surveys

Dear Stanbridge Parents and Guardians,

Week Two of distance learning is underway. We learned some valuable lessons after last week and will continue to revise and refine the delivery of our program to make this transition as smooth as possible for our students, families, and staff. To that end, I would like to thank all of you who completed the Week One Parent Feedback Survey that was sent out on Friday evening. We have reviewed the responses received so far and identified some areas of improvement that we will be addressing this week—more on that below.

Before sharing our survey feedback, however, I ask you to please take a few moments to complete the survey if you have not done so already (a link has been added to the Parent Portal). Your feedback is absolutely essential to ensuring that our teachers and staff are meeting the needs of you and your student throughout the weeks ahead. If something isn't working, your feedback now will help us acknowledge the issue and we will do whatever it takes to fix it. We are here for you, but need to hear from you to ensure that our distance learning model is working for everyone. With that said, here are some of the themes that came to the fore in the initial wave of survey responses:

More teacher "face time." Parents in all divisions noted the importance of students being able to see and interact with their teachers and classmates via Zoom and other video conferencing tools. We are supporting teachers in all divisions to continue to deliver instruction this way, and working with teachers to adapt their lesson plans to more video-friendly, interactive formats. For some, this will take a bit more effort and creative thinking, but many have adapted quickly and easily to Zoom meetings and online hangouts. We appreciate your patience as we experiment with and increase this method of instructional delivery.

I also want to note a collateral effect of moving toward a model of learning that is more live-video-based, and that is the issue of bandwidth—literally, everyone's internet bandwidth. A number of families—teachers included—have both parents working from home and, in some cases, multiple children home as well, and everyone seems to be online all day now. The reality is that not everyone has the bandwidth to keep everything running, particularly if multiple people are on multiple live video sessions at the same time. We recognize that some are finding the internet demands of sheltering-in-place overwhelming their WiFi networks. We will continue to encourage online interaction between our teachers and students, but also try to find a balance of join-live-now meetings and video lessons from teachers that can be accessed without having to be viewed "in the moment." 

More social-emotional support. We knew from the outset that this was going to be the most challenging aspect of our program to deliver remotely. This week, we are ramping-up our Social Learning lessons through Zoom (all high school students were invited to participate in a group lesson earlier today), and our SLPs and counselors are organizing online lunchtime social groups. We have added more links and resources to our Parent Portal's Social-Emotional section, and will continue to share more information on that forum in the days and weeks ahead. Our counselors and SLPs are further developing new ideas, activities, and scheduled events that we hope to share with you later this week. In the meantime, know that they are available via email should you need any immediate support. 

Finding the right balance with school communications. This is another piece that may take some time to find that Goldilocks level of "just right," knowing that such a level is a little different for everyone. Last week, and likely this week, we may lean a little more toward pushing out "too much information." Please understand that this comes from a good place. During an Administrative Team meeting earlier today, we discussed this topic and will be looking at ways to consolidate and package necessary school and classroom updates to you moving forward. It will take a little time to develop the most effective ways of doing that, so for now, bear with us if we err on the side of TMI.

Personal bandwidth. Apart from home WiFi bandwidth being pushed to capacity, all of us understand the demands that this new setup is putting on people personally. We understand that many parents are overwhelmed at the moment with the responsibilities they have with their families sheltering-in-place at home. We've read the blogs, articles, and postings on social media where parents bravely talk about crumbling under the weight of these challenging times. Now, parents are expected to be homeschoolers, counselors, child therapists, playmates, screentime police, and outstanding work-from-home employees, too. Many of our teachers share these same struggles and sentiments, as they are challenged by teaching remotely with their own children at home. As someone currently juggling a load of outside family demands, I want to emphasize that finding a balance is critical, and—especially in these initial days of adapting to distance learning—some days are simply going to be better than others. If your priorities and responsibilities pull your family in directions other than what that day's schedule might be, that's okay. Keep us in the loop when things aren't working out, go sideways, or just become too much...we want you to know that it is okay. We are here for you. We will meet you wherever you are.

Actually, you are probably at home. It seems we will all be at home for a while, and I want to acknowledge that before signing off. Some of the replies from the parent survey asked about events further out on the calendar: Spring experientials, summer school, graduation. Right now, I cannot answer any questions about events that far out with any certainty, but those events among others are on our minds as well; we will address them as necessary as the COVID-19 situation evolves in the days and weeks ahead. For now, I urge you to please focus on the present. Continue to share with us how this experience is working for you and your child. Let us know what we can do to make it easier, better, more beneficial and less stressful. Though we are geographically apart, we are still connected, and I want to ensure that our connection remains as strong as ever during these uncertain times. Be well, Bulldogs, and stay strong.