Will we really return to campus in the fall?
Dear Burgundy Family,
As we bring this year to a close, we are officially now looking ahead to next fall. Tuesday, September 8 will be our first day back to school, and we very much are planning with the expectation we will be back on campus. Whatever it takes within our powers to make that happen safely we will do. And whatever comes we’ll be ready! There’s lots of work to be done, and it’s going to take all summer; but we’re very hopeful to see you all in the carpool line!
Meantime, summer plans are taking shape!
The Burgundy Farm Summer Day Camp will offer its brand new virtual camp, Summer BOP! (Burgundy Online Program). Summer BOP! will provide families with a robust selection of online enrichment camps, covering topics like STEM, art, drama, as well as academic classes. Longtime summer partners Engineering for Kids, Boolean Girls, MathTree, and Alexandria Children’s Theatre will host online enrichment camps, and members of Burgundy’s faculty will offer academic classes for students and campers covering math and creative writing. Families soon will be able to register for morning and afternoon camps on a weekly basis and will be invited to join community events each week designed to create camp community and fun and bring us together while we are apart. Keep an eye out for more details on these offerings in the next few days! Also, as we’ve said, if the opportunity emerges to have our children, especially our younger kids, on campus or at the Cove this summer, we will seize it. We know it would be joyful for children and appreciated as relief for parents, including some employees. The earliest that might take place is looking to be in July/August.
Back to fall, can we reasonably expect to be on campus for the start of school? Yes! We are seeing international medical literature that is encouraging, we have a caring and careful community of adults, and, as we’ve stated, we have special campus assets that allow us more space and distancing as needed. We’ll comply with state and local orders, which we expect will be suitably flexible for schools like ours, and we’ll be prepared to support community members at higher risk for severe illness. We will also be prepared to screen Burgundy community members at arrival to campus as appropriate for virus symptoms and/or exposure. And we will be ready to institute developmentally appropriate and necessary safety and hygiene measures including physical distancing, the use of cohorts as needed, and associated training. We will communicate throughout the summer as we develop protocols and models.
In summary: we’ll make every effort and take every reasonable precaution to open our campus and keep it open and running safely. This includes requiring quarantining and/or using blended or remote learning, developing back-up plans for any staff illness, and collaborating with local health departments. We’ll be ready to go into the more restrictive modes of school if needed and make the best of it, having learned a lot from our experience this spring. Even in a blended or staggered school attendance model with distancing we believe we can accommodate ½ of our students at a time (and possibly more, especially for our early childhood classes). We also will prepare for the possibility of students who will not be able to attend school on campus due to health concerns.
In support of the intensive summer planning, we’re convening our Burgundy Pandemic Response Task Forces, scheduling June meetings during which we’ll prioritize essential questions and challenges in order of importance for readiness for next year. We’ll provide updates to teachers, staff, and parents throughout summer, and you can expect a full report by early August so that we can begin school safely, in-person, we hope, in September—with plans and readiness also for less desirable scenarios.
Regarding our calendar, please note that we’re planning to ramp up a little earlier, the week before Labor Day. We’ll work this summer with teachers and room parents and staff to plan pre-Labor Day programming like onboarding new students and families; more robust class and building/campus orientations for students and families; and practicing any new safety protocols, new arrival procedures, and so on. Actual classes then can begin one day before the usual day, on Tuesday, September 8. More information to come as soon as we get time to work with teachers.
Planning will be taking place all summer so that we’re prepared for September.
Finally, because uncertainty exists as to when the virus may re-surge, one simple plan will not suffice, and exclusive one-size planning for months out could be fruitless. To help parents (and ourselves) deal with so many open questions we have been talking to teachers and parents. Teachers have identified excellent questions, from logistical to ethical. Over the past two weeks we offered five parent Zoom town hall meetings, and I wanted all parents and employees to have some of the highlights and takeaways. Obviously we are learning constantly, and data and context and perspectives can shift even weekly. Please reach out with questions and concerns. We are here for you.
Take care. We will continue to be in touch regularly!
Jeff
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Burgundy is a one-of-a-kind independent school for Junior Kindergarten through 8th Grade. We believe children learn best in an inclusive, creative, and nurturing environment that engages the whole child.
3700 Burgundy Road
Alexandria, VA 22303
703.960.3431
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