| April 13, 2020 Dear Hathaway Brown Community, Thank you for your support, your kindness and your feedback as we continue to refine and enhance our #HBatHome remote learning framework. This past week was filled with so many stories of creativity and connection, as our students and faculty find new ways to engage in curricular content. Thank you as well to the 232 parents, 251 students, and 66 faculty members who responded to our survey. We focused on the following: - Connection: Does your student feel connected to her teacher/mentor/advisor/peers?
Can she access resources? - Consistency: Does your student feel she has an effective routine?
- Capacity: Is there too much work or too little? Too much screen time or too little?
- Credibility: Is the work appropriately challenging?
While survey respondents noted some opportunities for improvement, across the board community members indicated that what we are doing is in line with expectations. This week, we are adding even more opportunities for real-time connections in the daily schedules of our Middle and Upper School students. Please join me tomorrow evening, Tuesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., when I will discuss all of this in more depth by way of a Zoom webinar. Sign-in details are included at the bottom of this message. I’ll be joined on the call by Dr. Mark McConville, HB’s consulting clinical psychologist, and pediatrician Dr. Beth Hellerstein. In addition to sharing the results of the survey, we’ll talk about the philosophical vision we have for this remote learning framework and how we’ll continue to shape it in the coming weeks. Drs. McConville and Hellerstein also will give some expert guidance to families of children of all ages about what is developmentally appropriate in terms of this type of education, and they’ll also offer some advice to parents for managing stress and anxiety in themselves and their children, and they’ll discuss family life in these uncertain times. Whether we are on campus or connected through #HBatHome, our Learn for Life signature preparatory approach is defined by four key things: distinguished academics, empowered students, knowledge in action, and a celebrated community. We hope you are still feeling the HB spirit and we are hard at work developing reimagined community events. Ours also is a community of people who support one another. Part of  the impact of COVID-19 is that it has created some financial uncertainty and concerns for families. I wanted to let you know that in the case of services we offer outside our traditional academic programming, such as Extended Day and After School clubs/care, Vacation Camps, Developmental Athletics, Swim Lessons, Expressions, domestic and international programs, testing fees, and transportation services, we will prorate and/or refund these fees. With regard to lunch fees, HB continues to honor our food services contracts as a commitment to aid local businesses. We will pass along “credits” we receive next year, by way of reduced lunch fees for families. We are continuing to pay our 14 Dining Services employees as well, which these fees also support. These professionals continue to assist the school in a number of ways, including by offering cooking and nutrition tutorials for students and families. Where possible, we will reflect any credits to your account or issue any refunds for these programs by the end of April or the beginning of May, once a definitive timeline for returning to campus, or not, is issued. I know many of you are feeling this disruption personally, and we have made available a financial aid appeal form and confidential process for those experiencing significant hardship at this time. The connections logged through #HBatHome and compiled by our IT department are reflected in the graphic to the right. We’ll continue to collect this information and use it to evaluate our effectiveness going forward. *** Details for Zoom Webinar: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 7 p.m. (45 minutes) Panelists: Dr. Fran Bisselle, Dr. Mark McConville, Dr. Beth Hellerstein Please click here to join the webinar. Password: 8i4RTf Stay safe and be healthy! Fondly, Fran Bisselle
Head of School 
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