COVID Updates 2019-2020

The recent deaths and protests have brought up emotions of sadness, anger, helplessness, and rage, which have sparked communities all over the world to come together to fight for the lives of our black community. 

Heartbreak over the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and several others, and the dissatisfaction with the failure to address systemic racism and inequities in our country, has led to civil disobedience and protests. Unfortunately, vandalism and looting is an awful byproduct of large protest demonstrations. The deeper issue, however, is the need to have these demonstrations. Despite the critique of how these protests have transpired, we feel that it is important to remain focused on the reason for it, which is an impassioned resistance to the continued oppression of people of color. 

Earlier in the week, a virtual meeting session was provided for students to have a “brave space” to process and discuss these recent events. It was very inspiring to see so many of our students express their compassion and concern in such thoughtful ways. Many of our faculty also took the opportunity to meet and collectively process these recent and past experiences. We facilitated discussions on these topics in class and advisories, while practicing strategies for Inclusive Communication that guide our community dialogue. We value the importance of respecting the discomfort enough to sit with it instead of turning away.

We have a unique platform as educators, to examine how our curriculum can be culturally competent and properly explore these tough issues in the classroom, be it physical or virtual. You, as parents and caretakers, also bear the responsibility of having the tough conversations to help support your children in navigating the important realities of our society. We have compiled some resources that we hope will help you and your family discuss these difficult issues. The goal of these references is to assist us in becoming more informed on the contexts of daily injustices, guide us to be more richly engaged in organizations that support movements for social justice, and inspire us to get involved by taking action to promote resolution and hope. At the foundation of the four pillars, is our commitment to empowering and supporting everyone in our diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.

Stay safe. Be well. And go Huskies.

• Dr. Julian Taurozzi (Chemical/Environmental Engineering)  
• Walker Pawlik (Building your own PC)
• Trevor Anderson (Energy and Sustainability)
• Shannon Odell (Neuroscientist and Comedian)
• Dr. Mike Cavallaro (Entomology)
• Laua’e Gouveia (Science Teaching)
• Tim Sherman (Mobile Games Product Design)
• Spencer Rogers (Maker Extraordinaire)
• Tom Lucht (Mobile Technology Strategy & Development)
• Laura Barnes (Technology Management - Disney)
• Donald Lopez (Systems Integrator - Aerospace)
• Dr. Alefiya Hussain (Computer Science)
• Dan Sherman (CEO - Mobile Games)
• Daniel Weishoff (Cyber security, Mobile Games)
• Dr. Jason Douglas (Public Health)
• Naomi Scott (Marine Science)

First and foremost, I hope you and your families are healthy and well. We have just ended an incredible Teacher Appreciation Week, with special thanks to all of you who took time to contribute notes, memes, videos and even original songs to the Padlets provided. It was an overwhelming success and truly inspiring for our teachers and staff. If you still wish to contribute, please click the button below to access a list of faculty and staff with their associated Padlet links.

Click here for the Padlet links for Teacher Appreciation Week

We certainly hope that with each passing week, distance learning is getting less stressful for your students and for you. The accommodations we have made, from pass/fail to AP testing to adhering to our regular schedule, have been done to lessen the stress of this difficult time. If your student is struggling, please don’t hesitate to reach out to advisors, teachers, learning support personnel, or administrators who can support your child in this situation. With the curricular interruptions kept to a minimum, we have no doubt that your children will be more than prepared to advance to their next grade level in the fall.

Information about summer courses can be found by clicking the button below. We are utilizing distance learning for the most part and hoping to have an on-campus offering for MS Renaissance students if conditions allow.

Click here to access our summer offerings web page

Finally, and most importantly, Rolling Hills Prep & Renaissance Schools plan to reopen for the 2020-2021 school year according to plan, on Thursday, August 27. We are already preparing for a safe opening, and our plans include various physical modifications as necessary, health and sanitization enhancements, and a modified schedule if needed. We look forward to sharing these with you in the weeks and months ahead.

I sincerely thank you all for your continued support, resiliency, and kindness as the weeks go on.

The College Board has announced that the June administration of the SAT and SAT Subject Tests is canceled. Here are key points to know:

• The next available SAT date will be August 29th.
• College Board has added a new SAT administration in September in addition to the previously scheduled tests on August 29, October 3, November 7, and December 5. Please note, our schools only serve as a test center site for the October 3rd and November 7th administrations. 
  
  
• In May, students registered for June can transfer their registration to one of the fall SAT administrations for free.  Students who registered for June and those in the high school class of 2021 who do not have SAT scores will have early access to register for the August, September, and October administrations. The College Board will communicate directly with students when the exact May registration date is available. Eligible students will be able to take the test with a fee waiver. Students who want to cancel their SAT registration instead can get a refund by contacting Customer Service at 866-630-9305.
  
  
• If schools do not re-open in the fall, the College Board plans to offer a digital SAT for home use. 
• ACT has not announced cancellation of its June 13th exam.

In light of recent cancellations with SAT and ACT test dates, a number of colleges have announced a test-optional policy for the Class of 2021, including the University of California system. For a list of colleges that are test optional or temporarily test optional, click here. Many colleges are also exploring extending application deadlines for the Class of 2021 to accommodate for late testing dates. I will be sure to update you when more information becomes available. If you have questions or need more detailed guidance, please email Ms. Dyment.

• Distance Learning Survey for Parents
• Distance Learning Survey for Students (Must be logged into school Google account to submit)
• Spring Break Offerings Web Page

Greetings Husky Families,

I hope this note finds you healthy and well during this most extraordinary time. It is with the safety and security of our community in mind that we share our latest update regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our schools, our students, and our Husky family. First, I’d like to thank you all again for your continued support as we navigate this extremely dynamic situation. Our dedicated faculty has spent a good deal of time and effort on the day-to-day teaching and learning happening remotely each week, and we are heartened to hear from many of you that this model is working well for our students and our families. We have collectively taken thoughtful and intentional steps every day to assess our position and the road ahead, and have been steadfast in our commitment to remaining extremely proactive in our approach.

Therefore, at this time, given both national and state directives upholding continued social distancing and today’s announcement from Governor Newsom that schools will remain closed through June, we are confirming our decision to continue with Distance Learning for the remainder of the school year. We arrived at this after careful and thoughtful consideration and discussion, and with the very focused intentions of health and safety at the forefront of our decision-making process. While we are an independent school, the reasoning Governor Newsom cites is sound, given the information on the pandemic that we have all learned. 

The obvious next questions are around spring events, closing ceremonies, and Commencement for the Class of 2020, as well as other issues to be addressed. Over the course of the next three weeks, we will be working collaboratively to make these decisions. As always, we will rely on your input, and we want to extend our appreciation for your continued patience. In an effort to provide recurring updates and opportunities for feedback as we progress, we will continue to post important information on the Coronavirus Updates page of our website. We will also be creating a new page that specifically addresses our approach to events for the remainder of the school year, detailing alternative plans and potential rescheduling as needed. 

As we are days away from Spring Break, we would also like to share with you a selection of workshops prepared and offered by several of our faculty. Students can choose to take a well-deserved break, seek out opportunities for enrichment, or to try something new. There is a wide array of opportunities to keep everyone moving, thinking and connected over break. Play games, learn to code, work out, drink tea!

View the available offerings and sign up by clicking here.

These are extraordinary times that are defining a generation, including our students. During a virtual classroom this week, I asked students how they thought our society would change from this collective experience. One of the students clearly articulated her belief that we’ll “all be a little more appreciative of each other and the world around us.” 

I am sure she is right.

Wishing you and your family all the best,

David

Greetings to all of you in the Husky Family,

Despite all the changes and uncertainty in both our immediate community and the greater world

outside, I hope you and your family are finding a way to stay healthy and safe. As you may have seen, we were able to communicate over video to the students today, including a specific message to the Class of 2020. Information about the decisions we have made and the decisions ahead are contained in those messages. Basically, in choosing to move to distance learning, we stayed in touch with area schools, the California Department of Health, and the California Association of Independent Schools to find out best timing, practices, and options. Moving forward, we will do the same, with the hopes of either confirming our return date of April 20th or making plans for continued closure. 

We would sincerely like to know your feedback on how we are doing, the opportunities and challenges of online learning, and what we can do to further support our students and our families. Please see below the access to a brief survey which will help us in making the decisions we need around this continued new territory. We truly value your input.

From all of us, we wish you and your families health and comfort in these very difficult times.

With Best Wishes,

David

Click here to fill out the Parent Week One Distance Learning Survey

Greetings Parents of the Class of 2021,

I hope your families are safe and adjusting well to all of the changes in our daily lives. College Board has just announced that they are canceling the May 2, 2020 SAT administration. Click here to learn more about refunds or selecting another test date.

ACT has also announced the following:

"The safety of students and test center staff is our top priority. We have rescheduled the April 4 national test date across the U.S. in response to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). 

All students registered for the April 4 test date will receive an email in the next few days informing them of the postponement and instructions for free rescheduling to June 13 or a future national test date."

For more information from ACT, click here.

Ms. Henderson is closely monitoring any updates with AP exams and will keep families informed. 

If you have questions or need assistance or guidance, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Best Regards, 

Mrs. Dyment

Dear Parents of the Class of 2020,

I hope your families are safe and adjusting well to all of the changes in our daily lives. On the college front, I am receiving updates hourly and as I receive those updates, I will keep you informed. Normally, the National Reply Date is May 1^st; however, some colleges have recently announced they are extending their reply date to June 1^st. Click here for a current list of those colleges. I suspect more colleges may decide to move their reply date. Students must submit deposits to colleges they plan to attend by the reply date.

If parents and students need assistance with understanding or comparing financial aid award letters or making decisions about which college to attend, I am available to meet with families virtually. Send me an email if you would like to schedule a time.

Many seniors are receiving admission decisions and may have had plans to visit colleges that have accepted them. As you have already learned from the news, many colleges have closed their campuses and suspended campus tours. Click here for an updated list of campus closures. Some universities will be hosting webinars and other virtual options, such as tours and information sessions. I encourage you to contact college admission offices or visit college websites to see if these options are available. 

Lastly, keep me informed as your child receives acceptance updates or merit-based scholarship awards and be sure to have your child update his/her Naviance account. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for any assistance or guidance you may need. Wishing all the best to you during this time of change. 

Best, 

Mrs. Dyment

• Students will check in with their advisors online at 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday using the Google Meet platform and information provided to them by their advisors 
• Students will receive direct communication from their teachers about assignments and teachers will continue to post information about assignment submissions and grades in My BackPack. 
• Advisors will send each parent a weekly email to check-in and see how things are going from the parent’s perspective
• Parents may communicate directly with their child’s teachers, learning specialist (where applicable), and advisor in the case any support or clarification is needed

• After the advisory check-in, students will proceed to log into each class Google Meet at the beginning of each scheduled class block in the Ren/RHP Weekly Block Schedule. The duration of each class group meeting session will vary depending on course needs. 
• Advisory X, and Y blocks will continue to meet at their regularly-scheduled times as well

• 5th-6th Grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• 7th grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• 8th Grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• CLASS Distance Learning Schedule 

Dear Rolling Hills Preparatory and Renaissance Community,

We trust that today may find you in a place of adjustment, shifting and pivoting to not only the welfare and needs of the community but to the welfare and needs of your family. We are grateful to be in a community where we are able to shift so quickly from a traditional school model to an online platform for our students. With that, one may have many questions, thoughts and suggestions with an added layer of emotions. 

It is with great confidence and an awareness of the hard work that went into the planning of the next phase of schooling, that we embark on this journey with you. As you know, you have access to much information and many resources to support the next three weeks of your child’s schooling with us. This is a big adjustment not only for your child but for you as well. We recognize the many ripples of impact this may have on your family.

Families may encounter new and different stressors due to this adjustment. Although you have access to your child’s teachers, advisors and learning specialists, we continue to be a resource to you through telephone, email or google meet should you like to consult with a member of the Student Life and Counseling Team. In addition, we have included some valuable resources below. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us should you need to.

Most Sincerely,

Christina Morse

Director of Student Life

[email protected] 

Emilie Padua-Douglas

School Counselor / Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Coordinator

[email protected] 

• Talking to Children about Covid-19
• Creating a Home-Learning Environment
• Taking Care of Your Mental Health in the Face of Uncertainty
• How Working Parents can Prepare
• Schools are Closing. Now what?

Dear Parents of the Class of 2020,

Many seniors are receiving admission decisions and may have had plans to visit colleges that have accepted them. As you have already learned from the news, many colleges have closed their campuses and suspended campus tours. Click here for an updated list of campus closures. Some universities will be hosting webinars and other virtual options, such as tours and information sessions. I encourage you to contact college admission offices or visit college websites to see if these options are available. 

If parents and students need assistance with understanding or comparing financial aid award letters or making decisions about which college to attend, I am available to meet with families virtually. The National Reply Date is May 1^st. Students must submit deposits to colleges they plan to attend by this date.

Lastly, keep me informed as your child receives acceptance updates or merit-based scholarship awards and be sure to have your child update his/her Naviance account. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for any assistance or guidance you may need. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Dyment

Director of College Counseling

Dear Parents of the Class of 2021,

College Visits

Many of you were planning to visit colleges during spring break. As you have already learned from the news, most colleges have closed their campuses and suspended campus tours. Click here for an updated list of campus closures. Some universities will be hosting webinars and other virtual options, such as tours and information sessions. I encourage you to contact college admission offices or visit college websites to see if these options are available. In the Prospective College List document created for each student and shared with students during our recent college counseling meetings, we have a list of websites that are good resources for learning more about colleges. You can also access the list here. 

Family College Counseling Meetings

All scheduled college counseling meetings with families will now be virtual. We will be sending emails with more information about our virtual meetings individually to families. At these meetings, students will receive a customized prospective college list. 

Standardized Testing

Precautionary measures around COVID-19 have affected standardized testing. The March 13^thschool-based SAT for students with accommodations has not been canceled; however, our April 4th, ACT school-based exam for students with accommodations has been canceled. If your child is scheduled to take the ACT at a test center site, ACT has posted the following on its site: 

“If any test centers for the April test date are closed, ACT will notify impacted students and test center coordinators directly, as well as post and update information regarding the closures on this website.” For more information, visit www.act.org. 

If your child is taking the March 14th SAT, you should have already been notified about test center site closures; however, more information can be found here. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for any assistance or guidance. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Dyment

• 5th-6th Grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• 7th grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• 8th Grade Renaissance Distance Learning Schedule
• CLASS Distance Learning Schedule 

• Morning Meetings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be ended beginning next week. Instead, we will be sending out a weekly student bulletin to be covered by advisors during this time.
• Major school events that bring large gatherings, such as Huskies with Heart and CPK Night, have been rescheduled for after Spring Break. We will communicate with families the new dates and times for these events as soon as possible.  
• We are in the process of canceling or rescheduling field trips. 
• We are discussing future events such as the Winter Musical and standardized testing, and we will be letting you know of decisions as they are made.

• We are asking parents and faculty/staff who have a fever or are not feeling well, or who are caring for children who are sick, to please stay off-campus. Furthermore, if your child is compromised in their immune system or other areas, we are willing to be flexible regarding their attendance on campus.
• We are asking that families take their children’s temperatures every morning before they arrive on campus. If they have a fever of 100.4 they should stay home. They need to be fever-free for 72 hours without taking any kind of fever suppressant medication.

• We have added additional mid-day and evening janitorial sanitizing cleaning, including nightly disinfectant cleaning of tables, desks, doorknobs, gate keypads, etc.

I wanted to keep you updated on the steps that we are taking to respond to the growing concerns about the Coronavirus. We realize that there is no pandemic in the United States at this time. However, we appreciate that circumstances continue to change, and California has recently declared a state of emergency. Thus, we want to be prepared.

Thankfully, the national and local educational community has rallied to generate a sophisticated catalog of communication and resources that we have used in coordinating our response. I have also been in touch with other California heads of school to discuss approaches and actions that are being taken around the state.

Certainly, I will continue to keep you updated as circumstances develop. As always, general information can be found on the CDC website at www.cdc.gov. Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for your support and patience.

As noted earlier, we are closely monitoring the status of the coronavirus. As you may be aware, on Tuesday, February 25th, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) gave a press conference updating the country on the coronavirus (COVID-19), and what steps should be taken moving forward. We wanted to share with you some of the precautionary measures our school is taking in regards to the virus.

As the CDC emphasized, there is not currently a coronavirus pandemic in the United States. A pandemic occurs when a disease is spreading from a variety of sources across a large region. The number of cases across the US is still small. However, given how quickly the global situation is evolving, we are constantly monitoring new developments and will continue to reevaluate our steps and actions daily. In addition to monitoring the CDC recommendations, we are in communication with the National Association of Independent Schools, California Association of Independent Schools, and our peer schools as the situation changes.

In the meantime, the most effective way to stay healthy and minimize the spread of infectious disease is to follow basic health best practices like: 

• Enforcing great hygiene, like washing hands thoroughly and covering up coughs/sneezes by sneezing/coughing into your elbow (instead of your hands)
• Asking all faculty, staff, and students who are feeling ill to stay home until they recover

We are prepared to adjust our procedures and protocols as needed. We are also thinking ahead regarding the virus’s possible impact on upcoming school activities. We will communicate any changes if appropriate.

It is important to remember that handling the spread of a serious contagion like the coronavirus is primarily a task for public health agencies. Any directives from the World Health Organization, CDC, or local governmental organizations should be followed. In addition to communications from these organizations, please be assured that we will continue to keep you informed on this matter.