Feature Story: Reopening Langley During the Pandemic

FEATURE STORY:

Reopening Langley During the Pandemic

How We Planned for a Safe Return to Campus

While a typical day at Langley may look different this year on the surface – students sit at desks six feet apart, wear face coverings while on campus, or may even choose to learn from home – the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted our ability to deliver quality and attentive instruction, get to know each child for who they are, or find ways to build community.

Recognizing how much children need the continuity, connection, and stability that school provides, Langley was committed to safely reopening our campus for instruction five days a week for all grades this fall, while offering families the flexibility to select in-person or distance learning. After extensive planning, research, and input throughout the summer months, we used a staggered approach to bring back approximately 100 students to campus per week, beginning with our youngest learners on September 2, until all grades had returned by October 16.

Five opening-of-school task forces – made up of parent experts, trustees, senior leadership, faculty, and staff – worked tirelessly during the summer to formulate plans, policies, and procedures that would allow us to safely and responsibly open school. The work of these dedicated individuals resulted in Langley’s 2020-2021 Return-to-School Plan and COVID-19 Handbook Addendum, comprehensive documents by which each member of our community was asked to abide.

Due to the changeable nature of the pandemic, Langley planned a phased approach to reopening that allows us to move nimbly across phases in response to evolving health conditions. While our established plans provide an important

framework for returning to school safely, we must remain flexible as we continue to analyze data, monitor trends, and listen to guidance from public health officials.

To ensure the health and safety of the Langley community, we made the following adjustments to the traditional school experience this year:

Cohorting: A cohort model allows groups of approximately 10-16 students to stay together in a classroom so that mixing and exposure to broader groups is limited, and any health concerns can be efficiently and effectively traced and managed. We are fortunate to have a campus that allows us to spread out into different spaces, maximizing our square footage in support of these small cohorts.

Risk Mitigation: While it has been stated by health officials that there is no way to eliminate all risk, Langley has a set of policies and procedures for families and employees that are guided by the Virginia Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 on campus. Mitigation strategies include daily health screenings and temperature checks, hand washing, face coverings, heightened sick and return-to-school policies, six-foot physical distancing of desks, regular cleaning and disinfection, ventilation system enhancements, and restrictions of on-campus gatherings and visitors. Schedule: A new daily schedule meets the needs of both on-campus and distance learning students.

Instruction: Our hybrid instructional model delivers high-quality lessons no matter where a student is learning, whether on campus or at home. All students receive clear lesson guidance, a mix of teacher instruction and independent work, continued feedback and conferencing, and simplified use of physical materials. This flexible model provides consistency and predictability for student learning; allows teachers to effectively plan lessons and track student progress; supports our families as their needs may change; and allows Langley to quickly respond to state-mandated shifts in guidance based on community spread of the virus.

Throughout the fall, our students have moved seamlessly between high-quality on-campus and distance learning as needed given the alignment and trust from our parent community, the dedication and commitment of our faculty and staff, and the flexibility of our reopening plan. “I am so proud of Langley’s teachers for leaning in over the summer to help shape our planning and for continuing to think creatively about how to teach and build relationships with our in-person and distance learners in new ways as we navigate these uncharted waters,” says Head of School Elinor Scully.

Guiding Principles for Reopening

Langley’s reopening plan was guided by the following key principles:

• Remain committed to Langley's mission, philosophy, and core values • Prioritize student, faculty, and staff health, safety, and well-being over all other principles • Recognize the benefits of in-person learning and open campus whenever it is safe and possible to do so • Develop hygiene- and health-related policies that are research-based, clearly communicated, effectively implemented, and diligently enforced • Promote practices, policies, and procedures to reduce risk of virus transmission • Prepare to be nimble and agile so we can respond to changing health circumstances