The Principles Guiding All Our Reopening Decisions
In a meeting with families on October 17, 2020, Executive Director Chuck Jackson talked about the principles that are guiding Creative Minds’ approach to reopening and informing all our decisions about when and how to return to the school building.
Health & Safety
The health and safety of the Creative Minds community is our first priority. As Chuck says, “You can’t teach a student who is sick.”
Our reopening decisions may be different from the decisions of other schools, but they will always be based on what science tells us is safest and healthiest for our staff, students, teachers, and families.
Data
All our decisions are informed by data: feedback from community members, results from student assessments. We keep a close watch on public-health data, which is vital to the development of our reopening plans.
Student Support
In deciding which, if any, students to bring back to the school building, we will give priority to the students who require the most support.
These are the students for whom remote learning isn’t working well. They may be students who, data tell us, are regressing academically. Or they may be English-language learners or students with IEPs who do best in an in-person classroom.
Students may be offered the choice to return to the school building, but in-person learning will be optional, not required, for as long as remote learning is an option. Teachers, too, may have the choice to return but will not be obligated to do so.
Transparency
We keep our community up to date and share the thinking and data behind our decisions. We are candid about what we don’t yet know and offer community members the chance to ask questions.