“We made the decision to stick with our start date,” said Executive Director Ahava Silkey-Jones. “We didn’t want to push it back and risk our students being disconnected from their teachers any longer than they already have been because of how the school year ended last year.”
There was a lot of planning in the short amount of time between the announcement of the Governor’s guidance for schools in late July, and August 12th, when DaVinci Academy re-opened. But school leaders say they are uniquely set up with local decision making to change direction quickly when needed.
“It was obvious we have to be nimble and ready to be responsive no matter what happens,” said Silkey-Jones.
It’s all distance learning at DaVinci until mid-September when the school will also offer a hybrid model. Silkey-Jones knows distance learning is tough on young learners, but the hybrid date was pushed back a little so they could hire more staff and have precautions in place to meet state requirements. Once the hybrid plan begins, they hope to be able to stick with it, unlike the last few weeks of spring when changes were constant.
“It was challenging for families to navigate those changes,” Silkey-Jones said. “The most important thing we can do going into this fall is maintain a sense of consistency once we do open in our hybrid model, so that families and students know what’s expected and how to engage.”
When there is distance learning, Silkey-Jones says the emphasis is on live, in-person, computer sessions. Just like a regular school day as much as possible.
When students can attend class in person, they will be kept in groups with little interaction with other students. That way if there is a COVID-19 case, only a few students would have to be quarantined.
The school has 900 students, with about 1,000 on a waiting list.
