UPDATED: A Summary, and an Invitation (Three Week Closure)
March 15, 2020
Dear Atrium Families,
And so, we begin the everchanging “new normal” this week, adjusting our lives to the evolving landscape created by Coronavirus/COVID-19. This communication recaps key steps of Atrium School’s plan, and now reflects the latest official Massachusetts directive on school closure. If you haven’t yet, please be sure to read Kathy Hanson’s message from earlier today; it contains essential information about distance learning for the next three weeks. Though our building may be closed, learning at Atrium remains very much alive!
School Closure
In compliance with Governor Baker’s directive of Sunday evening, March 15 on the closure of all public and private schools in the Commonwealth, Atrium is now closed for three weeks. We will continually monitor the evolution of the pandemic, to assess the suitability of returning as scheduled, on Tuesday, April 7. Please be advised that a longer closure may be required.
Tomorrow on Monday, March 16, please come briefly to school between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to pick up learning materials and violins, to clean cubbies, and to bring home personal belongings. Teachers will be on hand to say hello!
Teaching and Learning
Again, be sure to read Kathy’s message about Atrium’s distance learning program sent earlier today. Teachers’ messages will arrive for parents and older children beginning early this week. A few warm-up messages may already have reached you. Distance learning begins by Wednesday, March 18.
The first week may have a few bumps. Later this week, Atrium will send a digital feedback form to all families, to hear about your initial experiences and to develop refinements to the systems rapidly built by the faculty. Don’t hesitate to contact teachers, Kathy, or myself to help resolve any glitches.
Communication
Depending on the purpose of the communication, teachers will connect with parents and with older students, via regular email, Schoology, and Zoom. One-to-one check-in’s via FaceTime, phone and other tools may also be used in some classrooms. Maybe we’ll even get some old-fashioned “snail mail” going!
The school will continue to use our regular MailChimp system for school-wide email messages to you. These general messages will also be posted to Atrium’s News webpage. If you are not receiving the MailChimp messages, be sure to check your settings and spam folder; each recipient's filter settings vary.
Life at Atrium
With teaching and learning at a distance well in hand, other important dimensions of life at Atrium continue as well! This is a busy month for high school selection for our 8th graders, and it’s admissions season as well. A successful finish for the Atrium Fund is clearly in sight; the business office carries on; and communications becomes even more essential now. All this work continues unabated, albeit in somewhat different forms. Do not hesitate to reach out via email to any member of the school’s leadership team and staff about any special needs and routine questions.
Finally, I want to share a brief story about the inspiration that arises in challenging times. As many of you know, large school districts’ decisions to cancel school can carry enormous implications: many students depend on the meals provided during the school day. To help ensure that children would not go hungry while out of school, basketball legend Steph Curry and his wife Ayesha Curry have poured forth resources to secure a million meals for the children of Oakland, California. In doing so, they create a hopeful bridge across this unusual time we are in.
To be sure, few can make a gift like the Currys. And yet, as we settle into our “new normal,” I invite the Atrium community--with our ever present commitment to justice, equity and outreach––to imagine not just how we will make it through this time, but how we might even thrive through selflessness and helping others--in our own neighborhoods perhaps, or farther away. How could the Atrium community do this, I wonder, and further unite ourselves in the process? I welcome your ideas.
I look forward to seeing you Monday between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Warmly,
Marshall