Dear Westbriar Families,
You heard by now Governor Northam's decision to close schools for the rest of the academic year. As you also read in Dr. Brabrand's email to staff and community send this afternoon, "Our School Board is meeting later this afternoon in an emergency session and I will be working closely with them to determine our next steps as we face together this unprecedented challenge."
Unprecedented is the right word to describe the times we are facing right now. Soon after, I started to receive emails from parents and staff asking the same question, "what are our next steps?". I want to reassure you that Dr. Brabrand and his instructional leadership team have tirelessly been working on a distance learning plan. You can imagine the challenges of putting this plan into action within a school system our size and trying to ensure vital information is presented in an equitable and collaborative manner to all schools and families.
This morning, I held a virtual touching base meeting with school staff. It left a warm feeling within me to see all 83 staff members participate to connect with one another, a connection very much missed by all. While we connected virtually, it was so reassuring to hear their voices, see their faces on video, and connect together once again as a school. I want to share with you what I told them this morning:
- The distance learning plan is being ironed out and will be ready once it has passed various stages of approval. I know FCPS leadership are working on this as quickly as they can to share this plan with staff and in turn, share it with our community. I asked for them to be patient, to wait until it has gone thru the various stages of approval and then be ready for it to be rolled out.
- Last week, I was part of the virtual meeting with over a 100 principals to review a draft of the distance learning plan and I want to tell you that our instructional office has put together a plan that takes into account important stakeholders like teachers, parents, and students.
- There was a time line of when new content would be introduced that was shared with principals during that virtual meeting. That timeline now will most likely be readjusted due to Governor Northam's decision to close all schools for the rest of the academic school year. I believe the many people working behind the scenes will be getting it updated as quickly as possible.
- Teachers and staff expressed missing their students. We talked about ways we could reconnect with them so keep an eye out for those opportunities in the upcoming weeks. We are also exploring ways to hold several virtual spirit weeks in the upcoming months. As you know our staff is full of great ideas :-).
Please be reassured that while it is disheartening to see how much your child or children has missed their teachers, friends, and daily school schedules, we as a school system will continue to work behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition to distance learning.
We all miss your children. We all miss their smiling faces and the sounds of their laughter. We all miss those precious learning moments with them. We are determined to reconnect with them as soon as we can. Hold tight until we can share more information with you.
Until then, please continue to reach out if you need anything. We will get thru these next few months - together.
Take care and be safe,
Principal Tam
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