Optimism
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs—all this resinous, unretractable earth.
Jane Hirschfield
Dear Arbor Families,
There is no question that this moment is truly testing our capacity for resilience. Together as parents and teachers we have completed our sixth week of distance learning, all of us reshaping our daily lives to keep our families and our communities healthy while keeping our children moving forward. The degree to which we have been successful in doing so is a testament to the tenacity that each of you has shown. You have been open to the possibilities of this new context and explored them with real energy. And you have been forgiving of the limitations and challenges that are an inevitable part of making such a structural shift. You have supported one another, and those beyond this community, and you have modeled for your children what it means to dig in and work hard in the face of uncertainty. When the light was newly (and suddenly!) blocked in one direction, we came together to turn in another.
While uncertainty continues, some things on the horizon are beginning to come into focus, and we are now able to bring some clarity to our efforts to address the growing tension between physical health and emotional and financial health. Just like our response to the virus, addressing that tension will require a well-thought-out combination of individual and institutional responses. Time and time again, this community has demonstrated the readiness and ability to plan for the whole while considering the individual, and our approach to the remainder of this school year and to the summer and fall will build on that strong foundation.
Foremost in our minds is the desire to keep our community intact, even in the face of the severe impacts of the economic fallout of the pandemic, and to continue to provide the Arbor education that is the reason we have all come together. Years of careful budgeting, the absence of debt, and a budget that does not rely on giving to cover operational expenses, has us well positioned to meet the challenges ahead. Building on that stable foundation, we are revising the 2020-21 budget to redirect funds from discretionary projects and programs toward supporting core educational programs and financial aid, to prioritize our families and faculty. APT is also generously joining us in this process.
In addition to careful financial planning, we are developing plans for the time that we will be able to be on campus together. Just yesterday the State of Oregon released new guidelines that will allow our summer programs to go forward as planned in July, following Oregon Health Authority guidance about group size and personal hygiene protocols. Our beautiful campus and separate buildings set us up well for meeting or exceeding the guidelines provided to us. Once the guidelines move from the draft stage to final form, we will share with you our plans for implementing them across our programs.
With summer programs permitted, the state has given us every reason to believe that we will be in school in September, knowing of course that nothing is certain, but that we should anticipate beginning with many of the same health protocols in place that we will be practicing this summer. Again, we are fortunate to have the staffing, separate buildings, and ample outdoor space to support the small, stable groups and absence of mixing that will protect the continued health of the community. Even as we reimagine how to use our space and materials, we know that there is some likelihood that we will have to return to distance learning for short periods. To prepare for that potential, our faculty continue to have one eye on the fall as they refine their remote-teaching processes this spring. One of the positives in the way we are living now is that it has given us the opportunity to build expertise with educational technology that will continue to be useful to have in our teaching toolboxes.
Resilience, tenacity, persistence -- the traits of the tree turning toward the light are also the traits that have been demonstrated by your children as they have navigated such drastic changes, and the traits that the adults in this community model for them and for one another. While the structure of what we do has had to shift for the time being, Arbor culture persists and gives us just what we need to find our way. I am thankful to be finding that way with all of you and welcome any questions that you may have.
Best,
Peter