Chronicle the harvard-westlake
Studio City • Volume 30 • Issue 1 • Aug. 26, 2020 • hwchronicle.com
Teachers prepare for Zoom
By Frank Jiang
Although many schools initially considered hosting in-person classes in the fall, most have opted to hold events and classes online for the upcoming academic year instead. On-campus events that would typically occur at the beginning of the school year are now all taking place online, such as Sophomore Orientation, Convocation, Back to School Day and Fast Start. Since the school plans to conduct classes online for the majority of the upcoming academic year, some teachers have asked students to take home additional materials. For example, Honors Physics teachers asked students to return to campus to pick up boxes containing items that they will need for class, including a ramp, springs and washers. With both the challenges of COVID-19 and the limited number of items they could place in the boxes, science teachers encountered the dilemma of which labs to keep, modify and cut. Science teacher Richard Vo said that there were a variety of other factors besides the space limitations that the science department had to consider when discussing the feasibility of labs. “[The issue of labs] was something we were already really thinking hard about, like what labs were really essential and focused on the topics we cared about, what labs were useful for students in terms of getting an idea that was hard to get unless the lab was hands-on, what labs kids liked, right?” Vo said. • Continued on A3
ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXA DRUYANOFF
School announces anti-racism initiatives
By Hannah Han and Ethan Lachman
In light of the racial justice movement sweeping across the nation, members of the class of 2019 created Blackathw, an Instagram account highlighting the experiences of Black students on campus. After a series of discussions with Black alumni and students, upper and middle school administrators composed an anti-racism plan, which they released July 24. Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Janine Jones said she anticipated the creation of Blackathw after students at private schools such as Campbell Hall, Brentwood School and Marlborough School founded similar accounts. Since Blackathw was created by alumni June
21, Jones said she has been reading the posts regularly. “My initial reaction was pride,” Jones said. “I was really proud of the students who are a part of the class of 2019 who started the account because it takes a lot of courage to do something like that. It is not easy to be an African American student at Harvard-Westlake or at any school where you are not in the dominant racial culture.” Currently, the account has over 2,700 followers and 31 experiences posted anonymously by people of color at the school. Jones said she had already heard most of the stories through Black Leadership, Awareness and Cultural Club (BLACC) gatherings and brown bag lunches, which are informal professional development meetings. However,
she said one post, in which a semi-conscious Black student was sexually assaulted by a group of boys at a party, appalled her in particular. Associate Head of School Laura Ross said that throughout the summer, she and other administrators held conversations with Black alumni and students, including the authors of an alumni letter with over 1,600 signatures and the founders of Blackathw. Ross said the administration was wary of releasing a statement addressing social justice early in the break without first taking direct, substantial action. “At the beginning of the summer, I think we felt some pressure that we should just be saying something, but we didn’t want to put out something that was just like, ‘Oh, we feel your pain,’
or something that was empty words,” Ross said. “That felt like that would be disrespectful of the stories people were telling us, so we felt it was much more Harvard-Westlake to make sure that we had a thoughtful, thorough response.” BLACC leader Cameron Herring ’21 said the conversations, which occurred primarily in June, were difficult yet effective. “It was tough to be in there because it was everybody around you, your loved ones, your community at Harvard-Westlake, talking about painful experiences that they’ve had,” Herring said. “One thing that’s been hard for me as a 17-year-old is having to advocate for a whole community when I’m still learning about the • Continued on A2
Administration releases plans for reopening in light of COVID-19
By Tessa Augsberger and Sandra Koretz
ETHAN LACHMAN/CHRONICLE
EMPTY QUAD: While students, faculty and staff prepared for online learning in the summer, lunch tables were removed from the lower quad.
The administration released their Return to School Plans and Guidelines for the 2020-21 school year July 31. According to the plans, students will attend classes from home in a distance-learning model upon their return to school Aug. 24. The action plan, developed by a task force of administrators from both campuses, outlines the school’s updated reopening system in accordance with public health recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, the California Department of Public Health and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The plan also includes guidelines for the responsibilities of students’ families and the school community as a whole.
Once Los Angeles County is taken off California’s County Monitoring List for 14 days, the school will resume on-campus learning through a pod approach, in which grade-level pods will attend classes in-person two to three days per week. However, all classes will be available through Zoom, as students, faculty and staff are not required to come to campus on pod days if they do not feel comfortable doing so. Head of Upper School Beth Slattery said that although many students are excited to return to campus, some teachers are concerned. “I think families in particular are really eager for their kids to be in-person,” Slattery said. “It’s been an interesting situation because faculty are a bit more reluctant to return to school because they are older than students and
typically have child-care concerns or are caring for a parent.” According to the plan, some students who choose to return to campus will attend class with their teachers present, while others will attend class remotely from a different spot on campus in order to maintain social distancing. Sarah Rivera ’21 said she probably will not return to campus, even when the pod approach is implemented. “I will most likely end up staying home, just because [the pod approach] seems more inconvenient than anything,” Rivera said. “I understand that being on campus for school is a necessary experience, but having teachers teach in person and on Zoom at the same time does not at all seem practical to me.” • Continued on A3