We recognized that school would likely be dramatically different in the 2020-21 school year and sought to develop an approach whereby students and faculty might be able to return to campus. In April, Landon convened a Return-to-School Committee (RSC), comprised of faculty, administrators, and trustees, to begin working through the myriad challenges facing reopening planning. Here are the six guiding principles of that work.

• Approach decisions with a judicious mindset.  We will focus on intelligently managing the risk associated with implementing school, recognizing we cannot eliminate risk altogether.   Even so, our community’s physical and emotional wellness will be a driving force behind how we make decisions. 
• Focus on community and relationships.  These are defining elements of Landon that must remain central to our planning.   Also important will be careful and regular communication to keep community members informed of decisions and processes.  
• Set preference for in-person school.  Our preference is for boys to be at school with their teachers if it is possible to do so safely.  Effective education can take place via distance learning, as we learned in the spring.
• Uphold continuity of the program.  Keeping our boys’ education moving forward in terms of content, skills, and appropriate educational challenge is crucial to the well-being of the boys, the faculty, our families, and the school overall.  We will work to maintain the curricular integrity and momentum of the school, and will be flexible, creative, open-minded, and pragmatic in our approach, recognizing that school online is a different experience with different demands and challenges than in-person school.
• Seek solutions that are simple, doable, and flexible.  Given the complexity of the situation, we must embrace an action-oriented mindset and a focus on decisions we can implement with relative ease.  This will require an orientation towards solutions and we need to make clear decisions, communicate them, and move forward, recognizing they will be adjusted as needed.
• Be creatively opportunistic.  Thinking differently and being willing to look at our program through a new lens will yield the best results for our boys. We are well served by looking at challenges as possible opportunities to be utilized to our school’s advantage.

Informed by these principles, and through extensive research and discussion; participation in innumerable webinars from health, education, and policy experts; consultation with medical professionals; and learning from schools across the globe with regard to reopening, the RSC has evaluated and developed plans and new policies/practices related to reopening.  In doing so, RSC members has had to address numerous considerations, including, health, safety, and wellness protocols; scheduling changes; facilities updates; technology needs; and other factors ranging from transportation to communications to finances to human resources matters, and many more. 

The protocols guiding our approach may change as the year progresses, based on new requirements from Maryland and Montgomery County, the latest guidance from governmental authorities, and the status of the virus in our community.  What will not change is our expectation that every member of the Landon community follows expectations as outlined in the email from Jim Neill and Scott Harris on June 26 regarding our Social Compact, which calls on all of us to do our best to prioritize the well-being of all in the community. 

We view this compact, as a statement of principle, a formal recognition that we are part of a single community, and an agreement that we will live our lives during this pandemic in a way that values the health and safety of others in the community. We regard it as an articulation of communal responsibility.  The extent to which this agreement has to be regarded as an enforcement document, which we very much hope will not be necessary, is fully dependent on the choices individuals make during the school year, and how well community members respect safety principles on the most basic level.

We want to provide some clarification to questions about how we think the document is best brought to bear.  Certainly, any large social gatherings such a parties and sleepovers with those outside of your family are deemed inconsistent with the spirit of the Social Compact.  

The other area of question regarding the Social Compact is how it interplays with travel, outside club sports, and local and state guidance on both.  To help with the questions that have come in on those fronts and to provide a hopefully clearer framework for this, we will be formally aligning our approach here with Montgomery County standards on return to play and Maryland travel guidance, which provide direction for families to follow on permissible and recommended activities, as outlined on the County website and as outlined on the State website.

In summary regarding club sports:

• Montgomery County currently classifies sports into three risk categories – low, medium and high. With Montgomery County currently in Phase 2 of re-opening, that means the sports listed in the low and medium risk categories are permissible.
• Sports that are currently listed as high risk can only played when/if the county moves into Phase 3.
• Should that change, the permissible sports will change accordingly. 
• And again, it is important that any clubs be adhering to best safety protocols for both practices and games.

In summary regarding travel (for sports or otherwise):

• Per state of Maryland guidance, travel to or competing against teams from a state that has a positivity rate of 10 percent or higher is strongly discouraged. These rates are measured and tracked by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Anyone who travels to those states or competes against a team from those states, should get tested with a PCR test. That test should take place no less than five days after the event per medical guidance we have received from our testing partner, and those being tested should self-quarantine while awaiting results.  Those results should be shared with our School Nurse Julie Acebal at julie_acebal@landon.net in order to obtain clearance to return to campus.

Please see below for frequently asked questions and answers regarding our Return-to-School Plan.

Overview

In this scenario, Landon will have all boys come to campus daily and will hold classes both indoors and outdoors with numerous health and safety measures in place including hand washing, mask wearing, and social distancing.

• Indoor classes will be held in well ventilated large classrooms and large campus spaces so that boys can be properly spaced out. 
• Outdoor classes will be held in large tents that will be outfitted with desks, chairs, portable whiteboards, fans, and Wi-Fi capacity. 
• Through this combination of indoor and outdoor spaces, boys would be able to have in-person school five days a week.

Details

• We have identified numerous indoor spaces that can serve as classrooms, ranging from large classrooms that we typically use, to the Landow Gallery, the Mondzac Performing Arts Center, Lindner Dining Hall, Perkins Gymnasium, and other large indoor communal spaces. 
• We have also identified classrooms and spaces that we will not use due to ventilation, small size, or for other reasons (e.g., locker rooms, senior lounge) or that will use differently this year (e.g, dining hall as classrooms). 
• By only holding indoor classes in rooms that are large enough to hold classes with boys properly spaced out, we will only be using a portion of our indoor space. 
• Outdoor classes will take place under 40’ x 20’ tents, each outfitted with desk/chair combinations, portable whiteboards, Wi-Fi, and portable fans in place.  Landon will set up 25 of these outdoor, tented classrooms to be able to fully return all of our boys to campus daily. 

Through these measures, students in each division would have little to no use of shared academic spaces so that each division would be existing in distinct areas of campus. 

Overview

Should Landon decide that it is preferable only to have a portion of our boys on campus at any one time, either due to restrictions from state or local government or at the advice of health authorities, we use a hybrid model where boys would alternate between weeks at home and weeks at school. The boys are divided into two groups by weeks (A & B) in the Middle and Upper Schools. All Lower School students attend class on campus daily. We are now using indoor classrooms almost exclusively, but if and when we return to using tents as we did in the fall, the below map outlines how we were able to utilize our campus for outdoor learning with more than 25 tents spread throughout our 75 acres. 

Map

Overview

Using our distance learning model from Spring 2020 as our foundation, our distance learning 2.0 program incorporates feedback from boys, faculty, and families, along with best practices learned from summer professional development opportunities. We continue to lean on four guiding principles in our approach:  

• Emphasize community and relationships. Providing opportunities for community, connection, and support online are essential aspects of our distance learning approach given how important relationships are to our mission and our boys’ academic success.
• Be flexible.  Flexibility, a willingness to try new things, and communication are key for all matters related to distance learning.  This plan will evolve as we learn more about what works best and as circumstances evolve, so being open to the likely and necessary modifications will be crucial should distance learning take place for an extended period of time.
• Use what we know.  Students and faculty will use those platforms, schedules, and structures that are already in place and familiar for communicating about work and delivering classroom experiences.
• Provide structure.  Structure offers clarity and support.  Continuing with a structured daily approach, similar to what boys are used to while in school, is important for boys in distance learning.  While this includes breaks, required time for physical activity, and time for connecting with advisors, it also includes regular academic time, homework, and the expectation that boys will be engaged and on task.

As noted above, our version 2.0 refines and re-envisions our distance learning program, with important enhancements stemming from lessons learned in the spring and professional development done by faculty.  While our prioritized approach will remain synchronous engagement between and among faculty and classmates, this updated approach will include:

• Lessons designed more specifically for virtual settings and that are more student-centered
• Fewer full period lecture style classes and creative use of break-out discussion groups
• Assignments/projects that provide students with greater choice to promote more engagement virtually
• Improved assessment practices for online learning
• Improved scheduling to include more consistent daily starting times, more intentional timing/length of breaks, a reduction in cumulative screen time, and a comprehensive analysis of community times such as advisory and ethics programming to ensure those programs are properly supported in distance learning.