On Tuesday October 6th, a quarter of the student body will return for their first day of in-person classes; Fieldston has been in the process of planning this day and the transition back to school for months.
On Friday, August 21, the Fieldston community received the news that in September, classes would be fully remote. The school had introduced a phase-in plan that allowed everyone time to adjust to the new school conditions before transitioning to the one week in-person, one week remote hyflex system in October.
In a video message, Jessica Bagby explained, “we really thought that it was worth the time to onboard our kids in a way that they actually walk the pathways they are gonna walk, that they actually tolerate a day or two in the PPE, navigating how they are going to go to lunch, navigating how they are gonna access restrooms and navigating everything about the day 6 feet apart.”
In addition to giving everyone time to get accustomed to the new health and safety protocols, the implementation of the new plan is also in response to anxiety felt by teachers and parents. In the video, Bagby mentioned that many parents, faculty and staff expressed reservations about returning to school in the Fall due to the results of other school reopenings across the country.
At Fieldston, 21% of teachers are at heightened medical risk and have opted to not return to campus. “In keeping with legal requirements and care for every family in our community, the school is granting accommodations to those teachers with a documented medical need to work remotely. This means that we have teachers who will be teaching remotely while students will be on campus,” said Upper School Principal Nigel Furlonge. With the phase-in plan, the school has had more time to hire new teachers that will work in-person, collaborating with the teachers at home.
Furlonge said, “[this plan] provides opportunities for in-person community-building, especially across full grade-levels, which will not be available routinely later in the year with physical distancing and density reduction for entire divisions.” However, Furlonge assures that remote learning will allow for some opportunities to build community through virtual form meetings, athletic teams, advisory spaces, club meetings and even academic classes.
Due to the social-distancing and safety requirements surrounding the physical reopening of school, orientation days were imperative in order to acclimate students to the new expectations.
“It is critical that students see and hear how we expect them to engage our physical spaces this year. While we’ve communicated the importance of mask-wearing, social distancing, and handwashing on campus consistently over the summer, students will see how signage on campus, in hallways, and on stairways, as well as classrooms, outdoor spaces, and the dining hall, will all function for the Fall of 2020,” said Furlonge.
While Fieldston’s plan takes every safety precaution into account, there is a constant worry of students’ behavior outside of school. Furlonge has stated, “I’m even more worried that students will not be diligent about making good health choices once they leave school and on the weekends. We’ve all seen what has happened and is happening at colleges across the country right now. Rarely does it seem like the issues stem from formal school activities.”
With this risk in mind, along with several other factors, the phase-in-plan may have ultimately been for the best. With four successful grade-wide orientations and a day of standardized testing under their belt, Fieldston now enters the next stage of transition.
