Atrium Plans for the Future
May 28, 2020
Dear Atrium Community,
Last weekend, I opened the Sunday New York Times to the daunting headline “No One Knows What’s Going To Happen.” My bagel and coffee quickly lost some of their flavor, and the remarkably clear morning air cooled a bit. Even as we grow more accustomed to our new ways of living--and enjoy silver linings like quieter streets, more family time, and living in the moment--it can be daunting to think of the months to come. Forces well beyond our control now influence our path forward more than we are accustomed to. Atrium, like all educational institutions, now faces an unusual degree of uncertainty affecting all aspects of school life.
Though so much is still unknown, we can prepare. We can assess the likelihood of various autumn scenarios, and then plan with discipline and dedication so that Atrium’s mission of Excellence with Joy rises and grows, regardless of what may come. Chief among the lifelong capacities Atrium develops in children is a drive to solve problems and innovate, and so we collectively solve and innovate now, as a community.
Planning Towards Our Primary Goals
Atrium’s faculty, staff, leadership team, and Board of Trustees are currently focused on two primary goals. The first of our primary goals is immediate: to culminate the 2019-20 school year with energy, spirit, unity and strength. Your children are engaged in final projects, and as always, year-end expressions of gratitude are in preparation. Planning proceeds vigorously so that Field Day, final classroom gatherings, teacher conferences, progress reports and Graduation--though all in different forms--will delight, inform and sustain us with their warmth, connectivity and familiarity. The second of our primary goals is longer-term: to forecast for September, and to prepare diligently and comprehensively now for multiple possible scenarios.
Our comprehensive planning efforts are well underway. We have assembled a Spring Action Task Force of administrators and faculty, carefully attuned to Governor Baker’s gradual plan to re-open the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This work has already begun at Atrium; closely adhering to public health guidelines, faculty and staff presence at 69 Grove Street increases each week now. Doing so allows us to develop, test and refine health and safety plans; to further implement rigorous cleaning protocols; and to assess our physical spaces for student use. Importantly, the work of this task force allows us to gain versatility and momentum, and sharpen our safety practices as conditions evolve over time and public health mandates are updated. Essentially, we are now practicing, in order to be ready for whatever September brings. This continuous growth model is key to our success in the fall. Led by Assistant Head of School Kathy Hanson and staffed with teachers and administrators, the Spring Action Task Force builds on the work of the Safety Procedures and Practice Committee and other pre-existing systems and structures at Atrium School.
We are also assembling a September Scenarios Task Force, comprised of administrators, faculty, Board members, and community members with specific expertise in health and safety, operational logistics, and education. I will coordinate this group, along with Kathy Hanson. There are many dimensions to this ongoing work, which all serve its primary goal: to research and consider various likely scenarios for the opening of school in Fall 2020, and to develop concrete plans that ensure Atrium resumes outstanding teaching and learning safely. We will continuously seek expert insights and advice from key national, regional and area resources. At various points your input will be sought, and the September Scenarios Task Force will periodically update the broader Atrium community on their progress. You will hear the next full update in late June.
What Might September Be Like?
All of us--myself included--wonder just what school will look like when September comes. And so, I share here scenarios that seem possible. These closely align with planning tools developed by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), which Atrium and many schools across the nation are using for guidance.
At one end of a spectrum, it is possible that we will return to 69 Grove Street in September, for in-person learning. Such a scenario would likely involve rigorous public safety measures, including but not limited to physical distancing, use of masks, health screening, dispersed usage of all school entrances, and staggered arrival & pick up. We will spend a considerable portion of our summer preparing for this scenario. We will reimagine our classrooms, schedules, calendar, building flow and student groupings to suit such a possibility.
At the other end of a spectrum, we may be compelled by public health conditions and common sense to continue teaching and learning at a distance, akin to what we have been doing since mid-March. We will also spend a considerable portion of our summer planning and preparing for this scenario, growing our technology capacity and refining our pedagogy and materials, especially for teaching the youngest grades.
And, there are various “hybrid” scenarios. Come September, conditions may dictate that an Atrium education purposefully blends elements of in-person learning with distance learning, either simultaneously or in alternating bands of times. Because Atrium will be ready, as noted above, for both a fully in-person scenario and a fully distance learning scenario, so too will we be ready to blend these into any of the various hybrids that are widely seen as possibilities next year.
Atrium School: Enduring and Ever-Changing
The likelihood of each of these possibilities is unknown right now, and so committing to any single one of them with undue hope would be short-sighted. By preparing for all eventualities, Atrium will be adaptable, resourceful and ready to respond. Our preparation will consider the needs of each member of the Atrium community, and our guiding priority is the health and safety of each student, employee, parent, and community member.
And so indeed, no one knows what is going to happen. In describing the possibilities here, we take control over what we can. As Mr. Rogers notes, “anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.” In reflecting on how Atrium faculty and students have responded thus far, and in observing the powerful optimism that you, our families, have exuded, I have absolute confidence that Atrium School will meet whatever challenges come our way, with our characteristic spirit of excellence with joy. We have built superb momentum so far.
Later in the same day as that daunting New York Times headline about the future, Dan Kahn came by for a visit. From a comfortable distance, the son of Atrium’s founder Ginny Kahn and I planted a special lily in my garden and chatted about our admiration for Ginny, whose spirit and vision started Atrium School. Dan and I also played our guitars and sang. Of course, the longtime Atrium favorite “River” came around, and it occurred to me that Atrium is like the very waterway in that song: both enduring and ever-changing. That is the wonderful nature of rivers, and that is the wonderful nature of our school. Like the world around us, Atrium will roll forward, and soon enough we will all become “ever moving and winding and free” once again.
As always, if the Atrium School or I can support you in any way, or if you have any questions about this message, please reach out.
Warmly,
Marshall