Planning for Reopening
As our summer deepens, political and media conversation about how and why to reopen the nation’s schools has moved from trickle to stream to torrent. This is, of course, an incredibly complex societal issue involving variables of learning, safety, equity, transportation, technology, and child care, among others; still, this complexity has not stopped pundits and politicians from making pronouncements and issuing imperatives which are sometimes self-contradictory, almost always excessively rhetorical, and very seldom with an eye toward the kind of details that are necessary for making hard choices.
The Browning community has been understandably interested in school plans for the fall, of course, but has handled itself with far greater sobriety and patience than the average editorialist or elected official, and for that I am thankful. I was also grateful for the tremendous response we received on our family survey regarding attendance preferences for September; indeed, as I write, the survey has been open fewer than three days, and we boast a nearly 85% response rate, which certainly helps our scenario planning for the opening of school. The vast majority of those replying to the survey expressed an interest in having their sons attend school in person, which was expected yet welcome news. All of us, I think, miss the connection and the comfort of being together, and it remains our intent to have as much in-person learning for as many Browning boys as we can during the coming school year.
At the same time, it is important to set our collective expectations about how “going back to school” will likely look and feel different from our usual opening of the Red Doors. Indeed, the hour-long graduation that we were delighted to host for the Class of 2020 last week required dozens of small and large decisions working in close coordination with the Museum of the City of New York in order to keep our participants safe and to follow the exacting state rules governing outdoor graduations. Preparing for a daily activity that involves several hours indoors, a meal, and physical movement around the building while at the same time trying to monitor the health–physical as well as emotional–of all in the community is sure to be a challenge.
“It is important to set our collective expectations about how ‘going back to school’ will likely look and feel different from our usual opening of the Red Doors.”
There is still a degree of uncertainty as to what will be required of schools–we are waiting finalized guidance from New York State (due next week), and the Governor will announce his decision on reopening during the first week of August–but we can be confident that a return to in-person schooling would ask something new of all of us. For example, many of our boys have been in small, controlled circles of family and friends this summer, and so they may not have experience wearing masks or maintaining social distance. Students and adults would likely interact with fewer people than they ordinarily would, and large in-person gatherings would not be possible. We would, of course, work as hard as we could to retain all the things that are vital to making school “school”–opportunities for personal interaction, teamwork, self-expression and creativity–yet in care of our boys, we should also ready ourselves for some of the impacts that social distancing and safety measures will have on their experience of school.
But even as we keep in mind the realities of in-person school in this pre-vaccine period, I hope that we can retain the spirits of generosity and patience that carried us through our months of BrowningConnect. We have been working diligently on reopening scenarios for over two months, among changing recommendations and reports and guidelines, and it is our intention to share our plan for September with our community in the next two weeks. Every new school year is an occasion for hope, one burgeoning with potential joy, and this year should be no different, no matter the challenges that face us. We are eager to get back to our building, are planning accordingly, and remain committed to making sure that relationships, values, and intellectual connection are foundational to all we do with and for our boys. Thank you for your trust, care, and partnership in helping us to meet the school year to come.