What Will School Look Like in August?

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There is no great shortage of information and suggestions on how schools should operate this pandemic season. Some seem to be driven by health concerns, while other ideas put the economy at the center of their priorities. 

Given that so many factors are involved and the situation is changing on a near-daily basis, no one can say yet what schooling might look like in the fall. Here in Colorado, Governor Jared Polis stated in late April that schools should “prepare for the possibility” of maintaining virtual instruction until January 2021.  Indeed, companies like Google have already announced that their staff will work from home through 2021.

At Zealous, we believe in proactively positioning ourselves to thrive in the face of any situation come fall.  Already, our pre-established commitments to digital learning tools, student mental health, and close student-coach relationships have positioned us to deliver exceptional, individualized education during the stay-at-home order. 

As we look toward the fall, we intend to work closely with County Health officials to maintain the safety of our school community and identity creative opportunities. We’re brainstorming through a wide variety of possible scenarios and developing game plans so we continue providing our students with a remarkable, passion-based education no matter the context. 


Looking into Our Crystal Ball

Eagle County’s “Transition Trail Map” 

Our crystal ball, though only recently recovered from the dusty depths of the sports equipment closet, suggests a number of possible scenarios:


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Scenario #1: Return to Regular Schooling in the Fall 

There’s at least a decent chance that we will be back up and running on our regular start date in August, and of course that’s the outcome we most hope for.

In the event of an August start date, we anticipate that we would implement several adaptations to our instructional model, including more outdoor lessons and outdoor work spaces and other strategies for maintaining distancing. We’re fortunate to have 75% of our staff who have studied extensively and have higher degrees in outdoor education and leadership. This allows for nimble adaptations to science lessons, journaling locations, and civics case studies. It would mean using the Remind app, Gmail, and Google Classrooms to communicate with kids and families. It would surely mean some creative,  never-been-seen field games that kids can help design. More time in the creek, more time on the trails, more time finding beautiful things to photograph or write about.

We would also expect to make some physical changes to our school campus and protocols, including an outdoor hand washing station, a temperature check station, mask wearing, and exhaustive sanitation. 


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Scenario #2 :  Modified Return to School in Fall

Rotate student and staff attendance, keeping work groups below ten and more likely below 6.  It would mean a larger percentage of kids completing assignments online, no use of the school bus, Friday trips within ten miles of the school and modified curricular opportunities.  Things like culinary arts might be replaced with digital photo or other art electives that kids can smash from a distance.  We wouldn’t host the usual dynamic speakers, instead hanging out with them virtually.  We might have a parent social, but it could be conducted through jackbox or some other fun platform.  When we roll out executive functioning and other life skills, it will target the soft skills like “how to host a video conference” or “ways to make shared documents work for you”.

Scenario #3: Virtual Learning through January 2021 

Scenario 3 is fortunately one that we have proven to be very successful at this spring.  Our coaches have “stood on their heads” to deliver creative experiences for the kids and we are not afraid to smash scenario #3.  No matter which scenario becomes our reality this fall, we’ll keep doing what we always do: 

  • We’ll lend a close, compassionate, and supportive eye to the development of each child as a reader, writer, and knower of the sciences.

  • We’ll have weekly targets that strengthen math and science skills, dissect writing, and give students opportunities to speak, debate, and collaborate.

  • We’ll think critically about events from history, track current events, and imagine bold solutions to big problems.

That’s what’s in our crystal ball. We’d love to hear what’s in yours along with any suggestions you have for how we might sharpen our ideas to best support kids in our community.

Geoff Grimmer