March 30th message

Dear Families, Faculty and Staff,

Today, Governor Raimondo announced that distance learning for Rhode Island schools would continue until April 30th.


Five weeks of the Online Learning Community

Gordon, along with all Rhode Island independent schools, will follow the public schools, and our Online Learning Community will run throughout April. As April 30th is a Thursday, the earliest that Gordon's campus would reopen would be Monday, May 4th, but the school is allowing for the possibility that the campus may remain closed beyond that date.

The decision to reopen campus will be informed by what is best for the health and safety of the community and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the Rhode Island Department of Health.


Looking forward to Wednesday

In her message today, the Governor urged all of Rhode Island to commit to reading every day, and I am confident that Gordon students are ready to meet her challenge.

Faculty began meeting this morning over Zoom, and I was overjoyed to virtually visit these meetings and see everyone's faces again. Excitement is running high for Wednesday morning.

Please visit the newly reorganized mini-site at www.gordonschool.org/spring2020 for the three things you need to do this week, including a link to help you get ready for Wednesday morning.


Beyond Wednesday...

I will continue to update you through email when there are major developments like today's announcement.

After the Online Learning Community launches on Wednesday, though, your first stop for information should be your child's schedule page in the parent portal at www.gordonschool.org/parentlogin. You'll reach that page by logging in, clicking "Classroom Connections", the appropriate grade, and "Online Learning Community." Mr. Henry emailed a slide deck with a great how-to video covering that yesterday.

The mini-website at www.gordonschool.org/spring2020 will continue to be updated with a weekly "If you only do three things..." list and updates to the Q&A.


While it is hard to think about not being on campus together for another month, I am grateful to have a time horizon that will allow us to plan for both the day-to-day and the long-term. My hope is that we will be able to move fairly nimbly from figuring-all-this-out to a place of creativity and innovation that will benefit Gordon for years to come.

If your instinct after reading this message is to press reply and email me a "what if?" or "have you considered this?" question, please send it instead to Ask Gordon via www.gordonschool.org/askgordon! Having your inquiries in one place helps us to be thoughtful and efficient in how we respond.

Thank you, as always, for your encouragement and support.

With gratitude,
 

Noni