Learning Plans Defined | Campus Updates

From the rollout we have learned that while more than 90% of our parents are comfortable with our in-person plan as presented, there is also around 5 to 10% who may need some form of hybrid option. We appreciate the members of our community who, for many valid reasons, simply cannot have their children return in-person this fall. While we believe in-person learning is the best form of education for our children, we also believe that some form of remote education is warranted for families.

 

We are creating an asynchronous/synchronous Hybrid Learning option for our loyal families who love our School and have a need to keep their children home for now. The hybrid option will allow our families to opt-in and opt-out for trimesters at a time. Josh Bottomly, the Division Directors, and our newly appointed “Learn-at-Home” Coordinator who is also our Curriculum Coordinator, Sandy Nelson, are working on the details for each division.

 

To accommodate and be flexible with this modification, we will need to move back our first day of school by two days to give our faculty time to flex to this change. Moving our first day of school for all divisions to Friday, Aug. 14 will allow our faculty two full days to focus on their Hybrid Learning plans to support all our students during this pandemic. As a result, we will move orientation and registration days to Wednesday, Aug. 12 and Thursday, Aug. 13.

 

Only parents who wish to enroll their children in this hybrid option for the Fall Trimester should complete the following registration by Sunday, July 26, at 5:00 p.m.: 

I also have an update regarding our Upper Division Athletic conference for events this fall. Currently, the Southwest Preparatory Conference is allowing member schools to begin fall practice on Aug. 3. They have pushed back our ability to scrimmage or play games against conference and non-conference teams until Sept. 8. SPC counter games are scheduled to begin after Sept. 21. This delay might be disappointing for many of you, and it is for me as well because I genuinely believe that there is so much good education that goes into competitive athletics. However, our conference is proactively working to create an environment in which our children may compete safely. So we must be willing to be flexible and accept this change.

 

The SPC board will meet again in August to further assess the fall athletics season based on conditions in our home cities.

 

Additionally, we are working with the City of The Village leaders to secure two large pole tents for outdoor classroom space and spaces for students to eat lunch when they are not in Calvert. Each tent is approximately 3,200 square feet. While they won’t hold an entire division, they will provide ideal supplemental space for our students and faculty to be socially distanced and outside as another way towards a successful in-person experience.

 

Finally, we will issue two forms of Casady face coverings to every child. One will be a gaiter, and the other will be a cloth face mask. Additionally, the Casady Cupboard has worked with the Hua family who have made some nice face masks, pictured above, in both adult and child sizes that will be sold through the Cupboard. You will receive details soon with a link for ordering. As with all uniform and personal items, please be sure your child’s name is marked clearly inside the face covering. Because of health reasons, we will not maintain a lost and found for face coverings that are not marked.

 

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Be flexible, but stick to your principles.” We are committed to our guiding principles of the importance of relationships, the need for safety, and a willingness to be flexible. We are grateful for you, our community, who believes in the great work our exceptional faculty do with your children. There may be times when it will be hard not to engage in, “did you know? or did you hear?” I ask that we each do our part not to participate in this type of behavior. Now more than ever, Let’s agree that we will all work to keep our community healthy and safe. Let’s not allow our personal feelings to divide us, we are stronger together.

 

I believe in us!

Faithfully,

Nathan L. Sheldon
Head of School