March 24 – School reopening update

Dear Parents,

I want to begin by thanking you for an outstanding start to our time in distance learning. Despite a few technology bumps, the students are working hard, contributing to class discussions and learning new material. Their success comes in large part because of your support.

Thank you for your emails recognizing the commitment and efforts of our teachers and staff. I am grateful to everyone in this community for their willingness to dig deep and work hard to make our distance learning program successful.

You may be wondering, how long will distance learning last and when may students return to campus. Due to the Mayor’s shelter-in-place order last night, we will not be able to come back to school until Monday, April 13 at the earliest.

I want to be candid with you here. According to the research we are seeing from public health experts and in consultation with other heads of school, we should be prepared to be in distance learning mode until at least early May, and possibly for the rest of this school year.

We truly hope that this is not the case, and we can all be together on campus in person before the end of May. As someone who has worked in schools for a long time, the idea that we will not see each other in person for the entire fourth quarter saddens me deeply.

However, we should be prepared for any and all contingencies. We will know more in the coming weeks as events unfold and have more information to make the best decisions for our community. The Keystone Security Committee is meeting every morning to discuss the latest information and plan accordingly.

Thank you again for all you’re doing. You inspire our students and our entire community.

With gratitude,

Billy Handmaker

William B. Handmaker
Head of School