- by Tim Breen, Ph.D., Head of School
I was out on vacation last week doing some camping and hiking. It was wonderful to spend time immersed in the beauty and peace of our natural landscapes in Colorado. On Thursday I was hiking to a ridge on East Beckwith Mountain in the West Elk Range (near Paonia and Crested Butte). There are no trails in this area, so for much of the day I was hiking off-trail. Typically, I do most of my hiking on established trails, so this was a bit of an adventure for me. Hiking off-trail can be exciting, daunting, anxiety-inducing, and scattered with moments of unexpected joy. You know the destination, but you also know there will be surprises along the way.
I realize that our work together this fall is a lot like hiking off-trail. We know our destination (great learning for students), but there will likely be surprises along the way. We will have moments of frustration, and moments of community joy. And we will need to be flexible. As I’ve mentioned before, we have built flexibility into our planning for the fall. Our plans allow us to be responsive to the coronavirus situation in the broader Boulder community and in the school by easily toggling back and forth among three scenarios: 1) full classes on-site, in-person, 2) some students on-site with others zooming into class (based on health needs and family choice), and 3) fully remote.
We are aware that BVSD and SVVSD have just announced that they will begin the year fully remote. We checked in today with the Boulder County Public Health department and they assured us that the districts’ decisions are based primarily on the logistical challenges of opening with all the safety protocols in place, not on changes in public health data. They still support in-person learning if it can be done with all of the recommended mitigation strategies.
Even before this announcement from BVSD, I’ve been asked many times if we will follow BVSD and their plans (since we generally do for things like snow days). The answer is that while we will follow the same health and safety guidance that they follow (from Boulder County Public Health), we will not necessarily have the same operational response. We are simply very different in many ways (size, flexibility, student-teacher ratio), and these differences allow for different responses to the same health and safety protocols.
So we remain on course to open for all students on August 24. Also note we will have orientation for new students on August 20 and 21. This will be a combination of in-person and remote. Shedfest (on the evening of August 20) will be remote.
We can never fully eliminate risk, but through guidance from public health experts we are able to manage the risk in responsible ways. This is a collective effort involving not just the Watershed community, but drawing on the support of many. Most notably, I want to share my gratitude for guidance from Boulder County Public Health, and for support and idea-sharing among the other independent schools in the Boulder area.
As we near the start of school, I want to stress that our success will depend on every community member staying as safe as possible. More than ever, we are relying on one another to keep all of us healthy. In that spirit, we ask that all students and families treat the 14 days prior to the beginning of school as a "pre-return safety zone." During this time, we ask that you use extra caution -- avoiding all non-essential travel, meeting or exceeding all public health guidelines (e.g., masks and physical distancing), and avoiding large gatherings, especially in spaces with poor ventilation. In general, please do everything you can to decrease the risk of viral transmission -- we all want to start the year healthy! Please use your best judgment and contact us if you have any questions.
Finally, I invite you to a Zoom Q&A tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 5:30. I’ll be happy to answer any questions at that time.
I feel lucky to be on this journey -- this off-trail hike -- with such a wonderful community. Your support for Watershed throughout this challenging summer has meant a lot to all of us.
