7.15.2020 Blast Camp, the Start of School, and a Brief Survey

Dear Woodland Families,

What a great week this has been for Woodland! We’ve enjoyed seeing children in the building actively engaged and having fun at Woodland's B.L.A.S.T. Summer Camp. We had the great opportunity to see many of our new moms at our virtual tea yesterday, and we are looking forward to our Class of 2020 Graduation Celebration this weekend. In the midst of these difficult times, these are all glimmers of hope and joy for us all.

I want to encourage all of our families to look on the website, www.woodlandschool.org/covid19, at the procedures we are following for our summer programs. These procedures are similar to the ones we will implement for the 2020-2021 school year and will give you an idea of how Woodland plans to approach the start of the school year. You may also reference this helpful guide from the CDC, click here, on how schools can make decisions on opening on campus learning. Our health and safety guidelines for the coming school year have been submitted to the Shelby County Health Department. Once we receive feedback from the Health Department, we will be able to share the specifics of that plan with our families.

As all of you know, one huge benefit Woodland has over many other schools is our smaller number of students in each class and the ability to allow for physical distancing within our classrooms with a few classroom modifications. Woodland continues to make investments in our campus, students, and teachers by purchasing additional cleaning supplies and PPE, new tents to create more outdoor learning spaces, and additional desks to create individual work stations for all students in grades Senior Kindergarten through eighth grade. We have also added more technology to ensure our faculty have the tools needed for the coming school year. In addition, our faculty have been involved in professional development this summer including the first ever virtual professional development series that is being led by our very own Woodland teachers.

We do ask that you take a few moments to answer this three question survey, click here, regarding your family’s thoughts on returning to campus as planned on August 11th and 12th. Your responses will help inform Woodland as to how we can best support our families as we move towards the beginning of the school year. This is by no means a binding survey, and we are not asking you to make some sort of decision. We know that with the constantly changing, new information your thoughts may change in the coming weeks. The survey is an effort to understand how Woodland can continue to plan and best meet the needs of our students and families. We do plan on sending a similar survey each week leading up to the start of the school year.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers as we walk this road together!
 
Adam Moore
Head of School