Head of School Messages

Dear TQS Families: 

The new school year is right around the corner, and we could not be more excited to welcome students back to our (in-person and virtual) classrooms! Here are a few things to know before we #shinetogether this fall: 

First-day festivities begin on September 2 with our Homeroom Virtual Social. This event will take the place of our Back-to-School Cookout this year. From 5:30 - 6:00 p.m., each homeroom will meet via Zoom to introduce all students and families in the class. The social will include virtual activities and games for the students, and will certainly raise spirits for the year to come. 

Virtual parent conferences are on September 2 and 3. Your student’s teacher will reach out beginning on August 28 to schedule, once faculty and staff are back full time. Any member of the clinical team, and the nurse, can join the conference at a family’s request.  

During conferences, you will also learn how to connect to your student’s Canvas account. We encourage you to download the Canvas Parents app on your mobile device before your scheduled conference.

The first day of school is September 8. While this is a day we’ve been looking forward to for a long time, we need your help to ensure our transition back-to-school is safe and seamless: 

• Remember to check your student for symptoms before sending them to school (please keep your student home and contact the main office if they have a fever above 100.4, diarrhea, vomiting, sore throat, shortness of breath, or new loss of taste/smell).
• Students will be temperature screened before exiting the car (if parent drop-off), bus, van, or cab.
• Please remain in your vehicle at drop-off. TQS staff will be outside to offer students any needed assistance.
• TQS is providing school supplies for each student, so no need for students to bring any. 

We now have a full-time nurse on staff! We are thrilled to welcome Nurse Nicole to the TQS team. Nicole has more than 17 years of nursing experience in clinical and school settings, and she will help enforce all health and safety measures this year. [Watch a video interview with Nurse Nicole here.]

Finally … we’re ready for you. We’re confident in our plans, in our in-classroom and HyFlex models, in our teachers, and in YOU, our families and students. Together, we will ensure that our students continue to learn, develop, and shine through the 2020-2021 school year.

Shine on,

Alex

Dear TQS Families: 

If your house is anything like mine, you’re searching for ways to simplify everyday life: to add flexibility, to cut the unnecessary, and to focus on what really matters. 

That’s why, as we continue to prepare for the new school year, we are happy to provide our students and families with options and opportunities that we hope will make your lives easier. 

Two of those offerings: our new HyFlex model, and our Canvas Learning Management System. Here’s what you need to know about both:

THE HYFLEX MODEL:

• HyFlex combines both online and classroom learning, allowing TQS students to attend class in-person or virtually from home. 
• Students can shift back and forth on a daily basis as needed. 
• The HyFlex day starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. Attending 4 of 6 live sessions equals a full day of attendance. 
• Hyflex students will have live interaction for morning homeroom, plus a roughly 20-minute livestream per class period for direct instruction or an interactive lesson.
• Students can join lunch virtually. 
• Assignments will be asynchronous. [Click here for an example lesson.]
• Office hours by subject area will be made available throughout the week.

Having a HyFlex model in place will make our school more prepared for any sudden school closures in the future, and it will help students feel more comfortable and confident while switching back-and-forth between learning styles and environments. 

CANVAS LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

• Canvas is a virtual platform where teachers, students, and families can create, store, share, and communicate. 
• Families will use Canvas to access assignments and Zoom links and interact with teachers and classmates, in one place, with one log-in.
• Download the Canvas Parents app on your mobile device to prepare to connect to your student’s Canvas account. 
• We will walk families through Canvas setup during parent conferences on September 2 and 3. 

We hope that by providing a flexible daily model and a streamlined hub of communication and learning, we will continue to ease any challenges surrounding the start of the school year. As always, if you have additional specific concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Get ready to #shinetogether (online and in-person!) this school year,

Alex

Dear TQS Families: 

One of the only constants in life right now? Managing change. 

Each day, the news brings updated statistics, evolving recommendations, and developing best practices. Adjusting to change is something that, five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re all certainly becoming experts in. So as we inch closer to a new school year, it’s not surprising that change is on everyone’s mind. 

How will this year be different -- and how will this change impact our children? 

While it’s true that this year may look different at TQS, one thing remains unchanging: our commitment to providing our students and families with the care, service, and instruction that you’ve come to love and expect, no matter what the future holds. 

That’s why I’m happy to share Teaching & Learning Together, our 2020-21 plan for delivering on our TQS mission and providing unparalleled education during these uncertain times. Here’s what the plan covers: 

• The guiding principles that will continue to shape our curriculum and community, whether learning happens in person or online
• Our new schedules for class periods, pods, and our Hyflex model
• Technology specifications and needed school supplies 
• Recess procedures and practices
• Specials schedules 

As you review these plans, please reach out with any questions -- and remember to RSVP for our next virtual Speaker Series event with Cheryl Chase, who will be discussing “Anxiety and Excitement About Returning to School” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18. This conversation will help us all prepare for the weeks to come. 

Remember: we remain 100% committed to welcoming your children back to our campus in September, and we cannot wait to see you all, whether in person or online!

Shine on,

Alex

Dear TQS Families:

During these decidedly strange times, the subject of this email may seem like an oxymoron. After so many months of being apart, what will it look like to be “Safe & Together”? 

I am confident that this reunion is possible -- by remaining alert to emerging trends, responsive to public officials, and extremely strategic in our planning. The health and safety of all TQS students, faculty, staff, and families are our top priorities and will lead our decision-making process at all times. 

With that said, I’m happy to share our 2020 Health & Safety Plan, which outlines the careful, thorough steps we will be taking to ensure we can #shinetogether in the new school year.  The plan is also available for review on the Health and Safety section of the TQS Reopening Hub. 

A few important takeaways:

• For the first time, TQS will have a full-time nurse on staff to help monitor student, faculty, and staff health. We also have a TQS Pandemic Response Team to prepare for any COVID-related situation.
• We have established intensive cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting, and ventilation protocols across the entire TQS community. 
• We are strictly adhering to and planning for social distancing in all school situations, from the school bus to the classroom to any common areas. 
• We are requiring masks for all faculty and staff, and we expect all students to try to wear face coverings – masks, face shields, or some other cloth covering – if possible.  

I invite you to join me for a Coffee with Alex on Wednesday, August 12 beginning at 7:00 p.m. to learn more about our reopening plans. The best health and safety plan is only as good as the people carrying it out. To safely come back together, we need your assistance.

We want our students to remain safe and healthy as they continue to blossom socially, behaviorally, and academically this year. With your help, we can make it happen.  

Shine on,

Alex 

Dear TQS Families:

Happy almost August!  We wanted to reach out this week with an update on TQS’ preparations for the start of school.  Like you, we are seeing all of the reports about school district reopening plans continuing to evolve and, of course, the disheartening news of increasing COVID cases in some areas.

We want to reinforce for you that our reopening plan for TQS is moving forward as previously communicated and that we are prepared for any scenario because of our HyFlex Model that is central to our plan and can accommodate both in-person and online learners. 

In-Person Learning

The TQS team is 100% committed to welcoming your children back to our campus and to remaining open (assuming that we are able to according to official directives).  Frankly, our small community size works to our advantage given the challenges of COVID-19.  With just 75 students and 50 faculty and staff, we can adapt swiftly as needed.  (And we know you love our small community size for lots of other reasons, too!)  Here are some of the things you should know about our in-person preparations:

• Our reopening plan meets or exceeds all of Montgomery County’s reopening guidance.
• The building will undergo a deep cleaning before opening and will be cleaned daily once school is in session.  In addition, frequent high-touch areas will be cleaned regularly throughout each day.
• Our classrooms are being reconfigured to ensure 6 feet of space between desks, students, and teachers.  

• We will spread classes across multiple areas such as break-out rooms and non-traditional spaces, as necessary, while always maintaining the intimate student:teacher ratio.
• Face coverings will be required for all faculty and staff.  Our students will be expected to try to wear face coverings – whether masks, face shields, or some other cloth covering – but we fully expect that some just won’t be able to for a variety of reasons, and that will be ok.
•  We have prepared a short video previewing our protocols for student arrival, the layout of our classrooms, visitors, handwashing and social distancing. 

Online Learning

• With our HyFlex virtual learning model, TQS is ready to accommodate students’ remote learning – whether they are online every day or just a few days here and there.  That means, if for any reason, on any given day, students (or you) feel better about learning from home rather than in school, they can do so.  In other words, you don’t have to choose one mode of learning over another at the beginning of the school year – you’ll have daily flexibility.
• Every student will bring their own Chromebook or tablet home each night to facilitate our HyFlex Model.

Our new Canvas Learning Management System will be key to both modes of learning since you and your student will be able to find all assignments, teacher instructions, Zoom links, etc. in one place and with one log-in.  We will provide Canvas training for families at the end of August, so look for more information on that coming soon but in the meantime you may want to review an introductory video.

And speaking of information, beginning in early August, you will receive twice weekly communications providing more in-depth details on topics like:

• Social distancing preparations and building protocols
• Arrival and dismissal processes, including screening protocols for all
• Protocols for positive COVID-19 cases and for managing symptoms should someone develop symptoms while at school
• HyFlex model details and intro to Canvas
• School supplies, cell phones, and technology
• Our continued emphasis on wellbeing and movement, specials, and after-school programs

As it is released, you will also be able to find all of this information and many other resources on our TQS Reopening Hub.  I encourage you to visit this link often.

As always, you and your children are our absolute top priorities as we continue to devise new ways for our community to reconnect and thrive in spite of the challenging times we all have been facing.  We can’t wait to see you all again – whether in person or via a computer screen! 

We’ll talk again soon … and until next time, shine on!

Alex

Dear TQS Families:

I hope all of you enjoyed a spirited July 4^th.  For me, it’s the holiday that affirms summer is, indeed, here (just in case the 90+ degree heat and humidity aren’t enough to convince me)!  And with the dog days of summer come the joy and anticipation of preparing for a new school year for our students.

Obviously, there is much more for us to factor in to our fall planning this year than is typically the case.  But we’re ready, we’re excited, and most of all, we can’t wait to see you and your children again, live and in person.  As you know, we’re also keeping a close watch on all evolving rules and guidance from local and state agencies and on all of the latest health and safety information from experts around the world. 

One item of note is that since I last wrote you, additional rules were released by Governor Wolf’s administration about mask-wearing for students.  In previous guidance, mask-wearing was required of faculty and staff but optional for students.  In this latest update, masks are now stated as required for students, too.  But not to worry!  Like you, we know that masks are going to be difficult for some kids to tolerate, and that’s ok.  The Governor’s masking order allows for people with disabilities to opt out of mask wearing. For our students, we’re adopting the “wear a mask if you can” approach, and we completely understand that children with sensory difficulties, speech and communication challenges, or respiratory or health concerns, for example, just may not be able to do it.  Regardless, our faculty and staff will wear masks; we have enough space for all students to maintain the appropriate 6 feet of physical distance between each other in all of our indoor spaces; and we have acres and acres of outdoor space surrounding our school so that we can maximize our time and activities outside, too.  The hardest part will be not hugging!

Plus, as we’ve mentioned previously, our HyFlex model will be available to you on a daily basis.  That means if the idea of your child being in a group setting, in school, doesn’t feel right for any reason, on any given day, you can opt to engage with our robust online learning platform.   To help streamline that even further, we’ll introduce a new learning management system to you in the coming weeks, which will be your one stop, with one easy log-in, for all of your student’s school information, including assignments, calendar, Zoom links, and more.

To help organize information on reopening our school in September, we created a TQS Reopen Hub on our website.  As details and resources are finalized, we will add more sections to the hub.  In the meantime, please bookmark the page and visit it often!

I also want to share how excited we are to be welcoming new families to The Quaker School at Horsham.  You are joining a beautiful community of parents, caregivers, and incredible kids, as well as a team of faculty and staff who genuinely love our students – we can’t wait for you to experience it all.  And, lastly, we’re thrilled that we’ll be opening this year with our first class of 10^th graders!  Our Upper School vision will come to life with these pioneering young people, and as of January, they will get to initiate our brand-new Upper School wing, which is under construction now and on schedule.

Well, it’s a hot one again today.  Until next time, I’m sending you cool thoughts and lots of love.

Shine on,

Alex

Dear TQS Families: 

As we mark the end of the school year with two surprisingly lovely ceremonies (Final Collection for Lower School students, and 8th-grade Promotion for our grade 8 students), I can’t help but look ahead with excitement at all we have in store for our TQS community.  

The school’s administration is hard at work getting ready to reopen, and I want to take this opportunity to keep you informed of all the progress and milestones along the way. Here are this week’s TQS Reopening Updates:

HEALTH & SAFETY

TQS remains steadfastly committed to the safety of all students. Although Governor Wolf gave independent school’s wide latitude to decide their own reopening plans, we are approaching reopening with meticulous preparation. 

The school has four groups collectively working to implement the safety recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and other health experts: 

• The Health and Safety Committee is establishing policies and procedures for mitigating COVID-19 in our school.

• The Teaching and Learning Committee is developing the software, hardware, and expertise necessary for delivering our new HyFlex learning model.

• The Personnel Committee is looking at leave policies and coverages to ensure faculty can safely teach and that all classes are taught by the expert teacher you know and love. 

• A Nerve Center Group, led by me, is guiding these committees and overseeing the complete reopening project. 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Our Reopening Hub on QuakerSchool.org that will house resources for students and families. It will also include many updates about our new HyFlex learning model, which will allow TQS students to attend class in-person or virtually from home and shift back and forth as needed. 

When we do reopen our doors, teacher and administrators will wear masks. Students may wear masks if they wish, but they will not be required. We are also in the process of collecting resumes in order to hire a school nurse and will be conducting interviews beginning in July.

IMPORTANT MILESTONES

• Construction resumes on the new wing at the beginning of July

• Parent conferences are September 2 and 3 and will be offered in-person and online

• The first day of the 2020-2021 school year is September 8

OUR COMMUNITY

While there will be some necessary changes, and some beloved parts of our program like field trips and ice skating will most likely have to wait a while, our unyielding commitment to our mission has never been stronger! If being quarantined in our homes could not keep us apart, you can rest assured that our sense of community, caring, and love cannot be diminished by social distancing. 

I look forward to sharing more developments as we get ready to reopen, and I could not be more excited to welcome students for the 2020-2021 school year. In the meantime, enjoy some well-deserved rest between now and the beginning of our summer program, which starts on June 29, 2020!

Shine on, and see you soon!

Alex

Dear TQS Families and Friends:

I’m sure many of you saw the update from the Pennsylvania Department of Education yesterday.  The Education Secretary issued guidance for elementary and secondary schools in the state’s yellow and green phases of reopening to be able to resume in-person instruction as early as July 1.  While the guidelines aren’t inclusive of private schools like ours, it is suggested that private school plans align with the guidelines, which ours will certainly do.

This is such welcomed news for me and I know for many of you, too.  Even as we were wrapping up the 2019/2020 academic year, we have been looking ahead and focused on reopening plans for the fall.  We have convened several committees to hone in on particular areas of our reopening plan, with academics and health and safety as the priorities.  In fact, our committee structure and the work that’s already underway line up nicely with the major components of the state’s guidelines, which focus on steps to protect high-risk children and staff; processes for monitoring students and staff for symptoms; guidelines for hygiene practices; processes for cleaning and disinfecting; guidelines for the use of face masks; protocols for social distancing; and procedures for restricting large gatherings.

Here are a few examples: 

• We have done an assessment, classroom by classroom, space by space and found that we will, indeed, be able to accommodate everyone – students, faculty, and staff – in our building while maintaining the necessary social distancing for all.  This, of course, will mean that spaces will be configured and used a little differently, and we’ll share more on that over the course of the summer. 
• Also over the summer, we will be converting as many aspects of our building as we can to “no touch” zones, meaning water faucets will be equipped with motion sensors, and water fountains will be removed or blocked.
• We are ordering plenty of personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, gloves, and gowns.  Given the sensory challenges many of our students experience, our expectation is that adults will wear masks but students won’t have to.
• Knowing full well that a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply for our students and families – nor should it – we will integrate the hi-flex model we told you about last month throughout the coming school year.  That means, along with in-person school, we will also continue to offer a robust online learning experience, which any student or family can choose to use at any time should the idea of being in school on a particular day or days not feel right for any reason.

Our first day of the new school year will be Tuesday, September 8.  Some of you have asked if we might start the school year earlier; however, we are holding to this original date as we need as much time as possible to properly prepare the building.  For that reason, our summer enrichment program, which begins June 29, will remain entirely online as planned.

To keep you apprised of our progress this summer, I will continue to send you HOS messages twice each month, alternating weeks with messages from our clinical team.  In addition, in a few weeks, we will launch a “Reopening Hub” (similar to our “Virtual Learning Hub”) in the News & Resources section of our website where you can find messages, resources, and other information for the fall. 

Congratulations to all on another important school year accomplished, even though its latter half came to a close in an unexpected manner.  Nonetheless, the victories and challenges – both big and small – are what add up to define and enrich your students’ TQS experience.  Thank you, families and friends, for everything this year.

Looking forward to seeing everyone, live and in-person, this fall!

Alex