I am pleased with the school’s communication and commitment to the well-being of the students. They have been very transparent and thoughtful. They have had countless parent q&a zoom calls, weekly email updates, the teachers and staff have been all in and available during distance learning.
In the spring they ratcheted back their expectations academically, and had less class time. They were mindful that not all student had equal access to tech or other challenges, so they decided that nobody’s grades in the spring would go down from what they had in the fall, but they could go up.
They invested in infrastructure early and often, and spent a ton of time figuring out Plan A, B and C - pretty much for any contingency. They planned to be flexible. That has proven very important. They have never wavered from the goal of having the students in campus if at all possible. It has turned out that they have not been able to have that as much as they would like, as things got bad in California at the worst times.
They made the decision to not do both distance and in person classes at the same time - the students did not have the choice. They figured they could do one well or the other, but not both. They learned from the spring experience, and changed up the grading structure and the pace of class work for the distance learning this winter in the hopes of improving the mental health of the kids while at home.
They had some challenges onboarding in the fall, mainly around food and activities. They couldn’t do the pod system because of county health regulations, so the kids were too isolated. When the initial quarantine was over, it helped a lot. They took full advantage of the California weather and had all classes outdoors.
They had a regular testing regimen and none of the students tested positive (there was a false positive situation- which in a sense was good because we know how cases would be reported and how the system would work - but it must have been horrible for the families).
Right now we are still distance learning- but there are some students on campus who couldn’t change travel plans or couldn’t work from home. Mostly they are international students. We are on track for all the students being back March 7, and then it is straight through to the first week of June.
So overall I think they have done an admirable job, and their approach matches the school’s ethos. They were very team-oriented, methodical in their decisions, and concerned for the community. They were maybe too optimistic at times, which was frustrating when the plans had to change. But there was never a question that they are doing everything they can to get the students back on campus and learning. They were just thwarted by California’s rules and the spike in numbers.
Now, have the students learned at the same pace as they would have in a normal year? Definitely not. Have the students struggled with isolation, stress and mental health? Without question. Both of those are issues all teens are dealing with, regardless of school, so I figure all I can expect is for the school to acknowledge the issues, come up with plans to address them, and competently execute on the plans. Compared to other California high schools - public or private, day or boarding- I feel like the school has been among the best at delivering an actual high school experience, just by having ANY in person classes.