Reopening Atrium: Important Updates
Dear Families,
I write to update you on Atrium’s preparations for school in September. First, I want to thank the Atrium faculty and staff for their monumental efforts. Since March, they have been working to creatively reinvent nearly every element of life at Atrium, and they continue to do so with September near. Undoubtedly, school will be different this year, but the care, compassion and expertise of our teachers remain the cornerstones of your children’s Atrium experience.
With August now here, everyone has the same question: What will school look like at Atrium this September?
Daily, we monitor local, regional and national conditions. Our planning responds quickly to continuous new recommendations, directives, and innovations in COVID-era teaching and learning. We are ready for any eventuality. At this point, it remains premature to make a single decision about September. So long as public health conditions and Massachusetts state directives support such a decision, our plan and preference is to return to school, predominantly face-to-face, following Labor Day, with necessary modifications. And, we are also prepared to begin the year with distance learning, or with a hybrid model. Finally, we have the flexibility, planning and resources in place to shift between different models through the year as conditions and directives may require. I have the highest confidence–and pride– that the Atrium community can handle just about anything.
Even as the preferred prospect of being back on campus is exciting, there are natural concerns and endless questions. What will school look like? What precautions are being taken? Will there still be Pizza Lunch (we’re working on that one!)? How will arrival, dismissal, and weekly schedules be organized? In addition, students will inevitably experience some distance learning: as a purposeful complement to face-to-face instruction; or if a shutdown occurs again; or when a student or family member is required to quarantine. For detailed information about these and other questions, next week you will receive by email a detailed outline of the fall plan. To hear about our plans in greater detail, please join a virtual “Community Meeting” session for parents:
For PreK-5th Grade, either Wednesday August 5 or Thursday August 6 at 7:00 p.m.
For Middle School, Monday August 10 at 7:00 p.m.
I want to acknowledge how taxing these times are for parents and families, and share that some of our Atrium families are particularly and disproportionately impacted. For all of us, the perpetual uncertainty created by COVID-19 is deeply unsettling, and the practical implications and dilemmas inherent to family decision-making can be terribly difficult. At Atrium, we seek to alleviate worry by protecting the integrity of our curriculum, program, health and community. In the COVID-19 era, this begins with taking every step we can to ensure that school is a safe and well-prepared environment. To date, we are:
Continually Preparing Our Campus and Facilities:
“Soft seating” and unnecessary furnishings have been removed from classrooms and learning spaces, to ensure safety and to maximize available space.
Additional classroom and teaching spaces have been created or repurposed, using administrative offices, the Atrium Space, and Art & Music studios. Select administrative offices have been moved to the third floor.
New and repurposed furniture is in place; group seating arrangements are replaced with individual, easily-cleaned seating. Classroom layouts comply with newly-issued Massachusetts distancing requirements for schools.
Handwashing and hand-sanitizing resources and systems will be ubiquitous throughout the building.
The HVAC system is updated. Windows open in every classroom, and the school will follow best advice regarding air flow and maximizing fresh air circulation.
Floors, hallways, bathrooms, and classrooms will be regularly cleaned and safely disinfected.
Hallway flow, locker & cubby access, and bathroom breaks will be monitored to minimize interaction.
Per Massachusetts requirements, a discreet space has been created for children who are ill and must go home.
Implementing New and Renewed Habits:
Students and teachers will wear masks daily, with safely managed mask breaks, until restrictions are lifted. Families will need to provide masks for their children.
Students and teachers will work within self-contained groupings to limit extraneous contact.
Each classroom will spend increased time learning outdoors.
Parents will ensure that all immunizations are up to date prior to the start of school, and will check children’s temperature daily before school. Even more than usual, we encourage flu vaccines to support general health.
Students will use individual sets of materials as much as possible. Any shared materials will be sanitized before students use them.
Handwashing and hand-sanitizing will occur regularly for students and teachers.
Visitors, including parents, cannot be admitted without an appointment.
Any scheduled visitors must wear a mask and will not be allowed to enter classrooms. Guests providing enrichment will visit classrooms only via video-conferencing.
Bolstering our technology resources:
We have invested in common learning platforms, digital libraries, and applications.
In the event that distance learning becomes necessary once again, the school will provide Chromebooks to each student in grades K-3, in addition to our existing 1-1 program in grades 4-8.
Our ongoing, rigorous planning in August will build upon and refine these protocols and procedures. We are now working on campus traffic flow and refining classroom schedules, and will be scheduling family visits to the building before school opens. These will help us all become familiar and gain greater comfort with the way we will live now at school, and to practice new routines. We seek to inform, but not overwhelm you, and so communication in gradually deepening layers will be ongoing as the start of school approaches.
I personally cannot wait to see each of you and your children, and I openly invite your feedback at any time; via email is best for efficient follow-up. While we have worked diligently to think of everything, I will relish hearing questions that begin, “And what about…?” Your concerns, questions and lived experiences are vitally important to us, and will make our planning and safe return to school even better. More than ever, it is my deepest wish that Atrium be a bright, consistent, and positive presence in the lives of your children and your families.
Warmly,
Marshall