Dear EVCS Family,

Over the last few weeks we have been engaged in a large-scale deliberative process, gathering feedback from our staff and families about their experiences with remote learning through surveys and meetings, with the intention of developing a cohesive vision that will carry us through the end of this school year. We think it’s essential that we take into account the voices and perspectives of our different constituency groups, the things we have learned about what our students and families need in this time of crisis, and also – as much as possible – preserve and center our school’s vision and mission and our shared beliefs about what makes high quality teaching and learning. We still have more than two months of school before we break for the summer, and we intend to make the most of it! Please have a look at our school-wide remote learning plan here.

I’m sure that after reviewing the principles and guidelines for remote learning in our framework that questions will emerge about how this plan will take form at specific grade levels, and we want to make sure that we are creating space for those questions to be asked and answered. Therefore, we will be hosting grade-level Q&A sessions for parents next week. Each session will last about 45 minutes and will include the classroom teachers, Liz and me. In order to use the time most efficiently we are suggesting that questions be submitted in advance in this form. The schedule for Q&A sessions can be found here, and please note that we will be recording the sessions so parents who were not able to attend can access later.

As an important sidebar to our remote learning plan, I want to highlight the fact that a significant amount of feedback we received from parents about their experience with remote learning was lamenting the fact that their children are now spending such a dramatically increased amount of time on screens. While we recognize that the digital interface is a necessary part of remote learning, we also want to make sure that we are encouraging our students to be learning in analog formats, whenever that is an option. Perhaps the most important way that we can create continuity for our kids’ learning and also get them off their devices is by encouraging reading of old fashioned books. Having said that, I know that families’ supply of grade-level books in their homes is limited and/or has already been exhausted and in need of refreshing. If you are able to order more books through booksellers that are currently shipping, please do so! If you need advice on what books would be on your child’s level, please reach out to their classroom teacher or consult the handy Scholastic Book Wizard. And if ordering anything is not possible at the moment, I am very pleased to tell you that our world class Parents Association is currently putting the finishing details on an initiative to get actual books in the hands of every EVCS student who needs them, at no cost to our families. Our PA is the best! More information on that initiative will be coming very soon.

I want to put in a plug for a few additional initiatives that we will be rolling out this spring, in order to keep things interesting and fresh. I enjoyed reading books to our kids so much over our “spring break” week, that I will be starting a new read aloud cycle from a magnificent, but somehow lesser known classic chapter book called Jenny and the Cat Club. Be on the lookout for links to that in Google Classroom next week – it’s great for all ages. And our Multicultural Share may be cancelled, but we will be hosting a school-wide talent show! It’s going to be great, and all will be welcome to share their special talents in pre-recorded 3 or so minute clips. Stay tuned for more information from our Master of Ceremonies Eric, but please tell your kids to start polishing up their acts. And finally, this Monday morning we will be posting a link to our first ever remote School-Wide Morning Meeting. Given our constraints with the permitted technologies, the first remote SWMM will be pre-recorded – and hopefully we can figure a way to do live SWMMs soon.

I hope you are all staying healthy, safe, and relatively sane. Hang in there folks!

With love,
Bradley

Dear EVCS families,

I hope this message finds you all healthy and well. As we get ready to enter our third week of remote learning I want to check in with all of you on some big picture and DOE policy updates, and also ask for your input on our long term plans.

I’ll start with the headline. On Friday afternoon the Chancellor announced that our previously scheduled spring recess, including the days of Passover and Good Friday, is cancelled, and that remote learning should continue uninterrupted this week and next. My understanding of the intentions behind this policy shift is that the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City is expected to hit exactly at the time of our scheduled break, and the City is doing everything they can to encourage everyone to stay home and be occupied and safe. While I get the rationale, I know this information came as a surprise and was disappointing for many of our students, parents and staff, all of whom have been working really hard during this stressful time and were looking forward to a well-deserved and restorative break. The teachers and I will be meeting tomorrow afternoon to discuss our plans for keeping students engaged during the break and I will update you soon so you know what to expect. My intention is to create a plan for that time that provides continuity for our students as well as a breather for everyone.

Since it is seeming more and more like remote learning will be our reality for the foreseeable future, we are starting to draft longer term plans and would like your input. Please take a moment to fill out this survey so we can understand from the student and parent point of view how this experience has been over the last two weeks and how it is working for your family.

Finally, it was announced on Friday that because of security and privacy concerns, the DOE is no longer allowing the use of Zoom as a video conferencing platform. They are reviewing other platforms including Google Hangouts – but for the time being the only approved platform for video conferencing is Microsoft Teams. Building the plane while flying the plane indeed! We designed our entire remote learning platform around Google applications, so before we pivot to adopt another platform, we are waiting for more guidance from the DOE, which should be coming soon. In the meantime though, I have advised our staff to hold off on all live teaching, small group instruction and individual conferences, including teletherapy – anything that requires the use of video conferencing. I believe this will be a very temporary shift, and we will be back to having video conferencing ability very soon, so please stay tuned.

Thank you all so much for your patience as we navigate these uncharted waters. Please tell your kids that I miss them, and that I am so proud of all the ways they have risen to these challenges over the last few weeks. More soon.

Yours,
Bradley