THE
OCTAGON
Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sacramento, CA Permit No. 1668 @scdsoctagon
VOL.44 NO.1 • Sacramento Country Day School • 2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento, CA• www.scdsoctagon.com • September 22, 2020
Lightning strikes spark hundreds BY ARJIN CLAIRE Jennifer Daugavietis, a relative of the Monasa family, recalls being shaken awake by her husband at 5:45 a.m. to the smell of smoke and an orange sky. “Sirens started going off in our neighborhood around 3 a.m. and my husband and I slept through it all,” Daugavietis said. “We woke up to a bunch of text messages from our neighbors checking in with us to see if we were awake and packing.” At 6 a.m., Daugavietis could see
ONLINE OPTIMISM First grader Valentina Ponce at her remote learning workspace. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALMA PONCE
K-5 in-person learning postponed BY ARIJIT TRIVEDI
the lower school prepared for a completely different classroom experience.
n a lower school Zoom meeting on Friday, Sept. 18, Head of School Lee Thomsen, along with the lower school faculty, explained to families that K-5 students are no longer returning to school on Sept. 22. A few days before Country Day was to welcome K-5 students back in-person, the school had to scuttle its plans to reopen, Head of School Lee Thomsen explained in an email on the same day. “I am incredibly frustrated with these developments,” Thomsen said in the email. The school’s previous plan was to have teachers move through cohorts of students, however, the teachers are no longer allowed to teach in-person with multiple cohorts, Thomsen wrote. Before the change of plans, the faculty of
building, fourth-grade teacher Pam Livesey is removing mini couches and stuffed animals from her classroom. Once vibrant, the room has been transformed. Twelve desks are spaced six feet apart — perfect for the lower school’s return to in-person learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The waiver for K-5 students to return to campus was originally approved on Sept. 10 by the Sacramento County Public Health Department. Of the 219 students in the lower school, as many as 54 were planning to stay remote, said Thomsen. As of Sept. 17, 26 other elementary schools in Sacramento County have had their waivers approved. However, Country Day was unable to get its sixth-grade waiver approved due to the mixing of cohorts
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for world language and elective classes. Additionally, most sixth-grade teachers also teach seventh and eighth graders, which makes developing an eligible schedgrade to return to campus starting Sept. 22. The lower school planned to stagger the starting dates of different grades to slowly introduce students to the campus, Livesey said. “We were worried about the level of anxiety some of the kids might feel after being home with their families for six months,” Livesey said. Having a staggered schedule allows facarise, she said. Each grade has been split up into multiple cohorts, each with its own room: three
K-5 RETURN page 3 >>
Enrollment stays over 500 with online learning BY SANJANA ANAND Despite going online, Country Day started the school year on Sept. 1 with 503 total K-12 students (94 new students and 55 new families) — only four fewer than the previous year. The high school and lower school increased enrollment while the middle school decreased, said Dana Vargo, director of admission and enrollment. • High school: 144 this year and 136 last year • Middle school: 118 this
INSIDE the ISSUE PHOTO COURTESY OF LUCA PROCIDA, ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARIJIT TRIVEDI
year and 134 last year • Lower school (Pre-K— 5): 241 this year, 237 last year The school is limited to an overall capacity of 544, but this year, the maximum is “around 525” since some grades were restricted due to COVID-19, Head of School Lee Thomsen said. The highest number of students possible in lower school is 250, in the middle school, the limit is 150 (50 per grade) and 144 (36 per grade) is the cap for high school. Vargo attributed these num-
bers to COVID-19 guidelines. About 20 fewer seats were available due to COVID-mandated cohort sizes. The school was prepared to host 440 to 510 students, Thomsen said. Some families might have been chased away at the thought of paying full tuition for an “unknown experience,” he said. The school also anticipated that some families who had not had a good experience in public schools or other private schools would look to Country Day, Thomsen said.
NEWS 2 Alumni describe life in college during the pandemic, taking hybrid or online-only classes and the challenges that come with it.
A return to on-campus learning could change some family’s minds, he added. “We are always asking ourselves this: ‘How many families would send their kids to campus even when we’re allowed to open?’” he said. “That’s an important number for us because we need to be able to support kids who are in the classrooms and kids who would opt to stay home.” Because schools like Country Day have the ability to do that
ENROLLMENT page 3 >>
CENTERPOINT 4-5 Octagon staffers give their take on hit animated TV shows from “Avatar: The Last Airbender” to “My Hero Academia.”
streets over, less than a mile away. There was “ash coming down like it was snow,” she said. the “August Lightning Siege of 2020” by the public. Thousands of lightning strikes hit California on Aug. 15, igthe state. As of Sept. 16, more than 3.3 million acres of land and buildings have ing to “California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.” With unprecedented temperatures reaching well over 100 degrees, energy shortages across the state and tling to keep them at bay. With mastate, over 120,000 people have been forced to evacuate as stated by Gov. Gavin Newsom. On top of this, tens of thousands of homes are being people have now died as a result according to Cal Fires. On Aug. 16, Newsom declared a statewide emergency to “help ensure the availability of vital resources state,” according to the governor’s website. A few days earlier, Newsom was able to secure Fire Management Assistance Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help improve the state’s response to ties. were active and something was blown into them it could potentialtrying to avoid. Newsom signed an emergency proclamation allowing some energy users and utilities to use backup energy sources to relieve stress off the grid. The proclamation is to help free
FIRES page 3 >>
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 7 Junior Dylan Margolis reviews the mobile game “Among Us,” which has grown in popularity in the SCDS community.