Highlights from Parent Program
On Tuesday morning I was grateful to have the opportunity to provide parents an update on what has been happening in the Upper School since we shifted to remote learning. As part of this Spring’s LISTEN tour, I was joined by over 130 people on Zoom. Unfortunately, the session did not record properly, and our attempts to extract it have not been successful. So I've included the meeting slides and will attempt to recap some highlights below.
In general, as we get acclimated to the new reality, we are looking to establish some routines and normalcy, while also acknowledging that we are all managing our lives in the midst of a global crisis.
- I reiterated Mike Davis’s message that we have not given up on coming back to campus before the end of the school year. Other local area public schools have already announced that they will remain in remote learning mode for the rest of the school year, but we are not ready to make that decision and will hold out as long as possible. There still seems to be a glimmer of hope that at least some aspects of normal life will resume in May.
- I reviewed the new AP testing plan (see my blog from last week).
- I outlined the strategies for the remainder of the school year. We are trying to maintain a solid routine, although there still might be some minor tweaks to our daily schedule. The academic year will continue through May 22, which coincides with the last day of AP testing. We will have some form of final exams from May 26-29.
- Liza Skipwith, our Director of Counseling, spoke about the services she is providing for students via online appointments. She encouraged families to reach out to her for advice and support as needed. Our daily “CA Check-In” will also feature programs and opportunities for parents, such as this one: You Are Not Alone with Dr. Karen Smith
- I mentioned that advisories and grade-level deans will continue to develop programs and activities for students to do. The Upper School’s student government, Community Council, will also be leading the charge to handle other student-planned and -led activities. Those will be announced to students through e-mail.
- With Gabe Bernstein, Senior Class Dean, adding in, we spent some time discussing how we are doing our best for our Seniors who are most affected by these changes. While some of their traditions will not be the same, we are doing our best to either re-create or salvage the most important ones, including Interim and Commencement. Seniors will also be engaged in Launch Week activities from May 26-29. Again, these may need to happen via Zoom, but we are committed to offering many of the same programs we typically do to help Seniors transition from high school to college.
- Cathy Nabbefeld from the College Office spoke about how standardized testing has been impacted and what may happen for students applying to college next year. For now the June testing dates are still on, but that of course could change. More information has been or will be sent directly to Junior parents. The college counselors will also attend the next PA meeting for parents of Juniors. The date for that meeting will be announced soon.
Looking ahead to next year, Andrea Eckler, the Upper School Registrar, has received all the current students’ course requests and will begin building our schedule for 2020-2021. We still must register all our new-to-CA students first. Of course, any planning we do for next year will also include contingency strategies, just in case we must implement social distancing again.
I very much appreciate all the positive feedback we have received over the last three weeks, including the postings on the “chat” feature of the Zoom meeting on Tuesday. This adjustment has been a major challenge, but I feel like we have settled into a good routine. While nothing is as good as being together, this remote learning set-up has actually been more effective than I might have guessed ahead of time. Teachers and students both deserve credit for stepping up.
If you would like further elaboration on any of the topics covered at the LISTEN event, or if you have other specific questions or concerns, please contact me directly at jon.vogels@coloradoacademy.org. I always appreciate hearing from you.
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