Head of School Update: October 20, 2020

Dear Mayfield Families,

 

Well, it’s World Series week, and our L.A. Dodgers are in it! What an exciting weekend it was watching our boys in blue win three straight games to make it to the Series. 2020 has been a year like none other, so THIS must be the year that the Dodgers finally break through and bring Los Angeles its first World Series title since 1988! Let’s hope for a great week. 

 

Thank you for filling out the required school reopening on-campus surveys from last week. As I previously wrote, these were questions that were mandated by the city, county, and state for us to provide them with data about our school. As a reminder, at this moment, we are targeting the City of Pasadena Public Health Department’s limited in-person services provision which allows schools to offer in-person learning for up to 10% of our student population for students with the “highest need.” We have deemed our Kindergarten students as our “highest need,” and we hope to bring those Kindergarten students who choose to attend classes on campus back in early November. The next group who may return to campus would be our 1st and 2nd graders under the TK-2 Return to School Waiver Application. We anticipate that this waiver may be approved a few weeks after our Kindergarten students have returned to campus. At this time, these are the only two options for K-12 students to return to campuses in L.A. County since the county remains in the “Purple/Widespread” Tier of the state’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy.”

 

The survey results regarding if MJS families would have their child/children on campus when allowed to do so are as follows:

 

Of course, the beauty of our Ever Forward plan that we announced in the summer, is that there is the Forward Choice option for families to choose (see our Ever Forward webpage). We recognize that answers to a survey will continue to change as information about Coronavirus COVID-19 changes and also as more specific reopening on campus dates are announced, which is why you will always have the Forward Choice option for this school year.

 

Thank you to Mrs. Dorr and Mrs. Kelley-Lossada for putting out surveys to our families and faculty regarding Forward Remote, and thank you for filling out these surveys. This is important feedback as Mrs. Dorr and Mrs. Kelley-Lossada evaluate the Forward Remote program. In the Lower School, 81% of our parents chose either a 4 or 5 (5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree) to the question “How is your child adjusting to the Forward Remote plan?” Another 16% gave this question a 3. In the Middle School, 52% of our parents gave the rating of 5 or 4 (Excellent or Very Good), and another 26% gave the rating of 3 (Good) to the question “How do you feel about the pacing of the Forward Remote program?” 

 

As we all continue to navigate these challenging times, I was inspired by a recent video by Pope Francis in which he spoke about “Our Moral Imperative to Act on Climate Change.” Although the majority of his message is about climate change, Pope Francis says at the end of the video, “The Future is built today, and it is not built in isolation, but rather in community and in harmony.” I love this thought for everything that is going on in our world. The MJS community gives us all the opportunity to not be isolated but to live in community and in harmony to make this school and our greater community better places. The future is indeed built today, and our children are our future. Ever Forward. 

 

Go Mustangs!

 

Joe Sciuto

Head of School