Dear Upper School Parents,
First, thank you for all of your support as we move towards the completion of our first full week of virtual school. Transferring our curriculum into an online environment has been no small undertaking, but the Upper School faculty have tackled this challenge with their characteristic energy, creativity, flexibility, and compassion. I could not be more proud of what they have already accomplished.
Second, please read the email below that I sent out to all Upper School students this morning. It reviews the Virtual GA 2.0 schedule that we will implement beginning on Monday. In this schedule, we will be aligned with the Middle School, although there will be some small differences in the morning and afternoon time slots that do not involve classes. In addition, this email notes other important upcoming changes that the 2.0 schedule will involve. Your children will need to be aware of these changes, so reviewing them together would be helpful.
I hope that all of you are safe and well. We are all living through a truly challenging time, and my hope is that our virtual program is providing our students with the stability, routine, and academic engagement that every child needs.
Best wishes,
Dr. Mike Torrey
Dear Upper School students,
I hope that the last four days of Virtual GA have been excellent ones for you. Today is Friday; by 3pm, you will have completed your first full week of virtual school! That is an accomplishment that you and your teachers should feel incredibly proud of! I know that I am proud of all of you for adapting to this new environment and for continuing to learn during unfamiliar circumstances.
As I noted when I emailed you this past Sunday, we will begin using our Virtual GA 2.0 schedule on Monday. As your VGA planbook indicates, Monday will be a Day 1, which is just like a Blue Day but with different timeframes for everything. Our day will be somewhat longer, as it will run from 10:45 to 2:30, but you will still have no more than four classes a day, and you will have 30 minutes dedicated to lunch (and only to lunch!). Pasted below is the schedule, along with all of the noteworthy changes that will accompany VGA 2.0. All of that information makes this email long, so I am also attaching it in a pdf in case that makes it easier to read and to keep track of. As you will see, some classes—PE, Wellness, Visual Art, Performing Art—will begin to meet again. Please read through the details about these classes carefully, and if you need help figuring out what your schedule will look like, please reach out to your advisor.
Please remember, too, that it is crucial that you keep all of your teachers’ Zoom links in a place where you can access them quickly and easily. The VGA planbook provides you with places to do this, but if you have your own system that works, that’s fine, too.
I hope that you and your families are all safe and well. I miss seeing all of you in school but will hopefully see at least some of you in a Zoom meeting sometime soon!
Best wishes,
Dr. Torrey
