Isl and Ne w s
“Ne Cede Malis” Steers School in Pandemic
Teacher Maribel Blas-Rangel with students from Spanish Class
Spring term opened on March 26 with a new reality on the Island and around the world as COVID-19 continued to spread. Instead of bustling walkways and hallways, the campus remained quiet except for a few teachers crossing paths — at least six feet apart — on their way to conduct online classes from their empty classrooms or offices. Other teachers, especially those who live off-campus, used their living rooms or kitchen tables as their remote teaching bases. Around the globe, students connected to their classes, teachers, and friends from their homes as the school community adjusted to a term of distance learning. In the span of a few head-spinning weeks in March, the spring term had transformed from a much-anticipated trimester on campus to an unprecedented experiment in education from afar. Although uncertain about what to expect and saddened by the loss of the spring’s many on-campus activities and senior traditions, the community also approached the distance learning experience with curiosity and appreciation for the sustaining strength of their Loomis connections. When students left campus for March Break, the coronavirus crisis was just beginning in the United States. The school’s COVID-19 Task Force warned of a possible delayed or online start to the spring term, and students took their computers and books with them when they headed out for the break. March Break student trips to Italy and the Galapagos Islands and athletics team trips to California and Florida were canceled. The task force continued to meet several times a week during the break, and with the pandemic and related public health crisis intensifying and with calls by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Connecticut for social distancing, the school decided on March 16 to cancel on-campus classes for the spring term and shift to a full-term distance learning plan. Teaching faculty revised their lesson plans during the break to adapt to distance teaching and learning, including both real-time class meetings via live video and less synchronous approaches. An academic program subcommittee of the COVID-19 Task Force
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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2020
designed an online class schedule for the spring term, taking into consideration that students would connect to the school from many time zones. The Information Technology Department worked to enhance virtual connections among teachers, students, administrative faculty, and staff so that as many people as possible could access the school’s computer networks from their homes. IT staff also provided training for teachers to use the Zoom online meeting platform for virtual face-to-face classes. The Communications Office worked with the school administration to keep the community informed of the school’s response to the crisis and published a COVID-19 Response webpage that will continue to be updated for students, teachers, parents, and alumni. Advisors connected with their advisees on March 25 to help students prepare for the first day of classes. And spring term classes began at 8:30 a.m. EDT on March 26. Meanwhile, several committees were working to maintain Loomis Chaffee’s thriving community life and support students, faculty, and staff as they navigate life away from the Island. In April, the school also made the difficult decisions to move Commencement 2020 to a later date and to postpone this summer’s Reunion Weekend until June 2021, when classes ending in 5s, 0s, 1s, and 6s will celebrate their reunions together on the Island. In messages to the community, Head of School Sheila Culbert invoked the school’s motto, ne cede malis (do not give in to misfortune), as a rallying cry for the community as Pelicans pulled together, supported each other, worked to continue students’ Loomis Chaffee educational experience, and strove to protect and serve the common good through the crisis. For the latest information and more details about the school’s response to COVID-19, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.
