April 13


Dear Families,

Hello from my home to yours!  It strikes me that we are all busy satellites of Friends School of Portland right now, while the physical structure of FSP lies mostly dormant.  Though signs of spring arrive around us, we in Maine are doing an incredibly good job staying in winter hibernation mode.  This is making a real difference in the way the coronavirus is progressing.  Way to go, friends!

As we  now foresee weeks ahead at home with little chance of return to the mother ship before June 5,  I wanted to let you know about our thinking about tuition reimbursement.  The income and expenses FSP budgets for are quite fixed:  as you know, most of tuition pays for salaries and benefits, and then covers much smaller costs such as insurance, electricity, water, mortgage payments, and educational supplies.  Donations to the school help offset those costs, though, as you can imagine, they have all but stopped for now.  We will be able to ride out the fiscal year, which ends on June 30, keeping our heads just above water, thankfully.  We will not return any part of this year's tuition, and this is a policy that all independent schools we have been in contact with share.

We hope that this will mean we can enter the next school year with the ability to meet the increased financial needs of as many of our current families as possible.  Some of the measures we will take include freezing staff salaries and decreasing retirement benefits and professional development funds, working with the bank to defer some months of loan payments, and accessing reserves set aside for other purposes.  We are beginning to put mechanisms in place for families to share their new circumstances with us.

The theme for meeting for worship in April is "FSP's future."  I think back in the early fall we were anticipating the new classroom wing would be almost finished and that we could help students picture themselves in their new classrooms for the coming year.   Now "FSP's future" has a more existential ring to it.  The "what ifs?" are many.  I am grateful to draw on the support of other heads of Friends schools around the country who are sharing ideas for new graduation rites, modified summer programs, and conditional calendars for next year.  FSP's Finance Committee is hard at work making models for next year and the years after.

It is sometimes hard to remember we are not alone in our concerns.  A phone call with a parent, a check in with faculty during the week, reading through the 7-8 schedule, answering a question by email helps remind me of that sturdy thread of care that weaves us together.  

Thank you, as always, for your patience, flexibility, and commitment.  I miss you all and eagerly look forward to the day we can gather and see how much your children have grown.

Sincerely,
Jenny
——
Jenny Rowe
Head of School

I had the opportunity to attend a zoom seminar last week that featured several heads of international schools in China-- two in Beijing and one in Hong Kong.  Chinese schools have been closed since early February, and the seminar was designed to take advantage of their relative experience (by several weeks!) with at-home learning models.  Several key points emerged: 

  • No school has this totally figured out (and this is especially true when working with young children). Expect (and embrace) evolution and change as we all learn through trial and error.

  • Recognize what parents are having to take on, and support that partnership.

  • Find ways to hold onto what makes our school communities unique.

  • Prioritize, above all, the social and emotional well being of our children.

As parents, teachers, and students all know, what we do in school does not directly translate into a remote model, regardless of the sophistication of the technology.  And even if it did, we know that the stress that children are experiencing, simply by living through this time, makes it unlikely that they will be able to engage in deep academic learning in the way that they can in school.  Our job, then, is to offer what we can to support students and families, recognizing that that will look different for each student. For some, a familiar school-like routine, zooming with friends every day, and focusing on reading and math is a comfort.  Others may need to engage with academic tasks far less and focus on being outside, or learning to take on more chores at home, or engaging in open-ended play.  


As we continue to evolve through this difficult spring, we are grateful for direct parent communication with teachers about what is working and about what their children need.  We are also including a link to a short, open-ended survey (click here) which will help us get some bigger-picture feedback about what we should continue to offer and where some changes might be made.  Thank you, in advance, for taking a few minutes to complete the survey.

Nell
——
Nell Sears
Director of Studies