Designing For Resilience
Dear Stone Community,
At the risk of repeating myself, I will open by saying that it has been yet another unpredictable week or so in the world of education. While I could list any number of stories about the reopening of schools which have surprised me, last Thursday I was struck specifically by a comment Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera made during a conversation with the NAACP -- that he simply doesn’t know if reopening schools is the right thing to do.
In his own words, "Today the answer is, based on the numbers, I don't know,"
This week, as August beckons, I’m reaching out to share thumbnail sketches of the three models we believe must be fully designed in order for us to be “ready” for what will almost certainly prove to be an ever-shifting 2020-2021 school year. As I do so, I will add that I believe designing for resilience is the work which lies ahead: designing for resilience means designing school models which support each of our students, our faculty, and our parents; designing for resilience also means designing school models which “work” across a number of different potential learning contexts for the upcoming year.
Model 1: 100% “Learning-On-Campus”. As I wrote two weeks ago, I remain hopeful that at some point in time during the 2020-2021 school year we will run at something close to 100% capacity. There is a possibility that day will be on the first day of school; there is a possibility that day will come during Mod 6. But, we do continue to design our curriculum, schedule, safety protocols, and physical spaces around the possibility that everyone will at some point in time be back on campus this year.
Model 2: Learning-On-Campus/Learning-From-Home Hybrid: As are many schools, we are also designing a version of Stone that works within carefully planned A/B cohorts which keep social distancing and safety at the forefront of everything we do, while also allowing for the critical social and emotional experiences our students need in order to thrive. Within that model, students would be split into “A/B” cohorts, and those cohorts would alternate days Learning-On-Campus and days Learning-From-Home. Here again, we are coordinating moving parts to ensure that we design a physical space which supports multiple cohorts, a schedule which fits into adapted physical spaces, multiple safe entrances, safe passing around the building, measures to keep cohorts apart from one another (to minimize exposure and also facilitate contract tracing), and regular sanitization practices throughout the day and in the evening.
Model 3: 100% Learning-From-Home. There remains a non-zero possibility that schools will need to close again either this Fall or Winter. As we’ve seen over the last month or so, this disease remains enigmatic, our understanding of how it works and how it impacts us has changed dramatically over just the past few weeks, and to that end it is important that our curriculum, schedule, faculty, and teaching/learning practices are prepared for this potentiality and are able to effectively “switch modes” with little disruption.
And across Models #1 and #2, it is important institutionally to acknowledge the wide discrepancies between the statistical experience our nation and our communities have with this disease and the individual experiences members of our community have with this disease, and meet everyone wherever they need to be. If we do indeed believe in our mission -- if we do indeed intend to practice empathy, ethicality, and gratitude -- then we have to commit to what those practices look like in this context. That means designing for any students who choose to remain in Stone’s “Learning-From-Home” program for this school year, and ensuring that their experiences remain deep, rich, connected, and joyful.
Ultimately, if we are indeed designing for resilience, the pragmatic aspects of our school design (specifically, our schedule; our facility usage; and our safety protocols) must work in support of our values (deep learning, joyfulness, and safety) so that we are all able to “be where we need to be” and still experience “Stone” in an authentic way. As I wrote two weeks ago, our schedule does indeed support a kind of “plug and play” mentality; our building’s large open spaces and adaptability support safe entrance to the school, routine sanitization, healthy ventilation, and easy social distancing; and, as evidenced by our work last Spring, our faculty are committed to great learning design.
We intend to commit to one of these three models by August 7th. Between now and then, know that we all do want the exact same thing -- we all want real certainty in a world which presents us with only the opposite. Until we do lock in, we will continue to design a school year consistent with our values and continue to communicate as much as we are able.
Until we do lock in, don’t ever hesitate to call me or text me or email me; for today, know how grateful I am for all that we are building together,
Mike Simpson, Head of School