Letter from the Head of School
The epic poet Homer sang of heroes who possessed remarkable courage, resolve, and skill. As I reflect on this past year and all we have endured, it’s clear to me that ours is a community teeming with heroes. The “grytte” and commitment exhibited throughout the 2020–2021 school year by our community has been both astounding and humbling. Everyone worked tirelessly toward three goals: opening our doors in September 2020, keeping students and faculty physically and mentally healthy throughout the year, and engaging our boys academically, intellectually, and emotionally. These “heroic” traits were embodied by every member of our Browning community: faculty, staff, students, alumni, and parents. Opening our doors and keeping them open was no easy undertaking, but the power of our relationships, the capacity to face each new hurdle head-on, and the collective knowledge, hard work, and, above all, dedication to our students enabled us—as a team—to succeed in our goal to keep Browning operating as effectively as possible. Beginning in the spring of 2020 and continuing throughout the next academic year, our Health and Safety Team sifted through directives coming from the CDC, New York City, and New York State, interpreting instructions that were sometimes ambiguous and conflicting, and then making sure that the regulations, restrictions, and procedures Browning implemented were as clear and transparent as possible for our community. Decisions were made in the best interest of our boys using the most recent information available. Our Leadership Team worked tirelessly through the summer of 2020 to create a plan that enabled Browning to open on time. Division heads met individually with everyone responsible for our academic program to explain the rollout. With immense trust in Browning and dedication to their students, our teachers committed to returning last September. We made hard asks of the faculty and they rose to the challenge, creating curricula that were robust, intentional, and thoughtful. The Collaborative Learning Cohort, two dozen accomplished teachers from across all three divisions, worked together over the summer of 2020 to find new ways to foster curiosity, promote independent thinking, and adopt more inquirybased practices in their pedagogy, especially under hybrid-learning conditions. REPORT OF GIVING 2020–2021
1
