Dear Garden School Families,

I hope that you are continuing to do well during this health crisis. From what I have heard from many of you, you have managed to adjust to the new reality of our lives and have found ways to conduct business from home. From my own experience, I have been teaching my classes from our dining room and doing conference calls and video conferences to conduct the business of the school. It is certainly a very different way to teach and run a school, but for now, this is what we are all doing.

Report cards will be completed this week and sent to families as electronic copies. Our goal is to maintain the same quarterly schedule so that we can keep our educational plan on track. If you have questions about your child’s report card, the best way to communicate with teachers or administrators is through email. As you know, all staff have emails that consists of first initial, last name and then @garden school.org. ( rmarotta@gardenschool.org).

Spring break is approaching and will begin on Monday, April 6. Our intention is to observe this spring break as we normally would, which will give teachers time to recalibrate the distance learning and make any adjustments necessary to facilitate the delivery of class work to our students. Teachers may assign some readings or projects during this break. Since we don’t have an exact date when face to face learning may resume, we want to be sure that our distance learning process continually evolves and is as effective as possible.

Also as a result of the health care crisis, trips are either being postponed or cancelled. Obviously the spring break trip to Nantucket will not take place as scheduled. We are maintaining our relationship with the hotels in Nantucket so that we can keep our options open with them as the spring unfolds. The history trip to Boston for the 5th and 6th grades is also on hold and will not take place as scheduled.

From the information we are receiving from the City, State and Federal governments, it seems as though our scheduled date for resuming face to face education is also on hold. We will continue to engage in distance learning until we are given clearance by the State to resume in person learning. I will keep you informed of any developments in this area. 

Thank you to all for your support. Everyday I read the email exchanges between parents and teachers and between teachers and teachers, and I must say that I am so pleased by the work and the cooperation that every member of our community is doing to provide quality distance learning for our children.

Be well and stay safe,

Richard Marotta, Ph.D.

Headmaster