The pandemic has changed everything

Others, like David Solomon, chief executive at Goldman Sachs, who referred to remote work as "an aberration that we are going to correct " want to return to pre-COVID working arrangements as swiftly as possible. Regardless of the side one takes, pandemic pivots – the quick and often dramatic alteration of how we do things – are under consideration and in all likelihood will not disappear completely. Education has been hit especially hard by COVID-19, and there is also plenty of speculation on how the pandemic will change or even transform how we do business.

 

We return from spring break with nearly every student back on campus. Only a handful must continue remotely due to health concerns, and we are hopeful that increased access to vaccinations will enable them to join their classmates on campus before the end of the year. The majority of our faculty and staff have received their first shot, and many have had both. Several teachers who have instructed remotely are back on campus; others will be returning soon. I myself am days away from being "fully protected," and the feeling is exhilarating. We are proud that we started in-person learning on October 12 and have been open ever since. Since October we have consistently had around 90 percent or more of our students on campus, five days a week. That is a remarkable statistic. There have been risks and rewards associated with every aspect of in-person learning, and balancing the two has been essential to our success. So has hard work on the part of all. 

 

Spring break provided me time to go back to my collection of books on teaching and learning, all of which were published pre-pandemic. I opened a dog-eared favorite and turned almost immediately to a page of brightly highlighted text: There is no such thing as teaching without learning. Successful teachers must know what their students know, don't know, are learning – all year long – to provide students the instruction they need. Academic standards – the target of what the teachers are teaching – have to be high. Teaching is complex, intellectual work, and it is hard. All of that was true before COVID-19 when I ran my highlighter across the page, and it is every bit as true now.

 

Our faculty has worked exceedingly hard during this complex year and kept standards high. They have fought through the challenges of a hybrid platform, doing their utmost to keep all students engaged at all times. They have blended more technology than ever with traditional teaching methods so that everyone can be more successful. They have endeavored to understand how each of their students goes through the learning process, even when masked and socially distanced. They have been there for their students in spite of what was going on in their own lives. Curriculum has been discussed and evaluated, weekly assemblies have tackled important social and global issues, and extracurricular activities have taken stock of the wellbeing of our students during a time of challenging isolation. From start to finish this has been an intellectual enterprise of the highest order. 

 

Now the task at hand is to assess key findings from the pandemic and evaluate how we deliver an outstanding education to our students based on what we have learned. In many ways, the pandemic brought the future forward, and we have discovered a lot about how we work. We will explore the ideas and arguments coming out of the pandemic. We now know that some meetings are more effective virtually. Two campuses can become one in the flick of a Google Hangout. Parents don't need to lose valuable time in traffic to come together for an information-sharing session. We can get to know one another virtually. As I said above, a lot of what we did this past year was about balancing risks and rewards; we will continue to seek to balance the two, with obviously different risks and different rewards, as we move out of COVID-19. 

 

Do I think that some of the pandemic pivots will stick at RE? Absolutely. For one, we are going to take more advantage of the great outdoors and our enviable location on the shores of Biscayne Bay, which is very much in keeping with our founding values.  Are we ready for the end of remote learning? For daily classroom instruction and advisory, yes. We appreciate the potential of online courses and are enthusiastic members of the Global Online Academy, but we know that our students come to RE at a critical time in their lives. They need interaction and socialization if they are to become productive global citizens. This year of political and social turmoil has solidified our belief that students need safe, non-judgmental spaces where they feel they belong and are heard, and where they learn to think critically and work through differences.

Remote meetings likely will continue to have a place for other forms of academic enrichment such as extra help, after-school group study, practice assessments. Do we want to be sitting "cheek by jowl" with our colleagues, students and advisees? A resounding yes. Will we sharpen our focus on overall good health and wellness? Without a doubt.

 

In an odd and completely unexpected way, this has been a year of measurable growth for our remarkable school. I am excited to see what happens once the veil of COVID-19 is completely lifted and we are once again a fully in-person school. I sincerely believe that we will be better than ever. No-contact delivery will work for Amazon for the long term, but not for us.
 
Penny Townsend
Head of School
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