This toolkit from the Parabola Project helps school leaders make key decisions driven by the values and priorities of their school or district. Leaders need to determine the resources they have available (time, people, and space) and think creatively about scheduling for a hybrid or fully in-person model.
On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, we speak with three school leaders from Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut: Mark Benigni, Superintendent of Schools; Barbara Haeffner, Director for Teaching and Innovation; and Susan Moore, Supervisor of Blended Learning Director for Teaching and Learning. These three leaders shared with us how they worked to establish partnerships with community organizations and local educational institutions, to reimagine learning spaces, and to leverage technology to support students and create engaging learning opportunities.
Video from Hopkins Public Schoolsoutlining the district’s creation of shared outdoor classrooms to support teachers and students to return to in-person teaching and learning.
An article from Sun Post, which highlights Hopkins Public Schools’ outdoor immersion program.
A Hopkins Public Schools newsletter from October 2020, which highlights their outdoor immersion program for a second-grade class.
Ann Ertl, Interim Director of Innovation, Design, and Learning at Hopkins Public Schools, describes their inquiry-based outdoor immersion program piloted with a second-grade class at Eisenhower Elementary, which was created to bring students back to in-person learning.
While state and other authorities provided an initial round of direction and data regarding public health and safety during COVID-19, schools ultimately had to look for a community partner with public health expertise to help answer questions, provide local direction, and monitor data for their school district. In many communities, this type of partner may be the local board of health or health department, though in some cases a state department of public health or other knowledgeable, trusted public health partner can fill this role. This Spotlight shares the experiences of Norwood, Milford, and Uxbridge school districts in Massachusetts who worked with their local boards of health to support safely reopening schools.
Photo examples of how Meriden Public Schools leveraged outdoor spaces for in-person instruction during the pandemic.
This tool, built off of Principle 8 from the Readiness for Reopening Guide, is intended to help teachers prepare their classrooms, taking into account cleaning and distancing procedures. It provides a daily guidance checklist identifying items that need to be cleaned regularly and the frequency of cleaning.
Lovett Elementary creates flexible learning spaces to meet the needs of their learners. This video gives extended footage of the classrooms at Lovett.
