Published for the Arts Based School Community
February 18, 2021
How We Do it and Why
By Mary Siebert
“One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time.” - Annie Liebowitz
The adult perspective of COVID’s impact on our school community can be effectively reframed through the lens of a 4th grade photography class.
Diana Greene, an accomplished local writer, photographer, and documentary filmmaker, is working virtually with our fourth graders this week and next. Students have been well-prepared for her visit with lessons about narrative writing and learning to use details to express a moment from their lives. These lessons flowed seamlessly into a conversation about how to “write with light” using a camera.Their mission, with Ms. Greene’s guidance, is to create a self-portrait with details that help us see what their world has been like, during this pandemic.
Ms. Greene shared beautiful examples of photos, including some that illustrated what life is like for other young people in the world, during COVID-19. Some showed children isolated in their rooms, while others were lined up, masked and distanced, being careful.
In photography, Ms. Greene explained, “the FRAME is the king.” The act of cropping and reframing can dramatically alter a photo, guiding the viewer’s attention, and cutting the clutter. This is more than a photography skill. It’s a life skill.
The staff and families of our school community are engaged in what we hope is an “end-game,” to this difficult year of isolation. We are flagging. How will we survive it together—our friendships, knowledge, tenderness, and enthusiasm intact?
When we swing the camera lens from one view to another, here are a few snapshots:
Photo 1: What we are seeing now is a painful fragmenting of unity from parents, students, and staff who are weary and ready for change. Words are spoken or written that can’t be retrieved. Decisions are made, because decisions must be made, but they divide us. We mourn our continued separation, some with sadness and fatigue, others with anger.
Photo 2: We are witnessing renewed optimism and commitment of support from parents, students, and staff who believe we are doing our best to complete this marathon. Flowers, encouraging messages, dance party invitations, and comforting words are extended.
Photo 3: We miss seeing our parents in the building. We miss the spirited partnership and loving support they provide. We miss our students, who are the joy of our work, and whose myriad needs and gifts fill us with a diving sense of purpose. We want to lift them up and move them forward in the ways we know best. We miss one another. Our best work happens when teachers are able to pour out their successes and worries to one another, and share solutions. We are weary of our isolation.
These contrasting and overlapping snapshots are artifacts of the stress that everybody is experiencing. In normal times, our school community is extraordinarily invigorating, flexible, and positive. When complaints or worries arise, we are able to tackle them and are sometimes transformed by them.
But with unexpected stress, just as within families and among colleagues, the culture of our school community has become strained. The frame of the photographer is reflected in our real lives. We have to choose how we will view and respond to the added stress and the unending challenges. What will we focus on, and what will we crop out? Each of us has our list of triumphs and regrets.
There are many ways for the school to reframe these snapshots, and below are some examples. We intend to focus deliberately, with reflection and care, on the view that best serves our mission. We recognize that each member of our parent community will crop these scenes according to their own perception. We hope that the final products will unify us.
Photo 1: We see that our beloved community members are fearful, stressed, angry, tired. We listen to their suggestions and demands, and we do what we can. The hurtful words can be brushed from our shoulders like sparks from a camp fire, and left behind.
Photo 2: We are refreshed and braced by one another’s encouragement. We place a frame around what is going well and acknowledge it, even though we know there is much left to be decided, fixed, endured.
Photo 3: This is the frame that functions for us as a distant loved one’s photo. Reminding ourselves of what it’s like when we are together intensifies our longing, but it also inspires perseverance and determination.
Still Life: 4th Grade’s Project with Diana Greene
4th Graders will share their writing, self-portrait photography, and accompanying still life drawings reflecting the experiences of a COVID year. The presentation will be filmed after their work is complete, and will be edited for release in the early spring.
Cinderella! Free from Piedmont Opera
Arts Based School students and staff are invited to watch Piedmont Opera’s performance of Cinderella, by Pauline Viardot, for free! Live streamed on Friday, March 19 at 8:00 and Sunday, March 21 at 2:00. Thank you to state representative of Forsyth County, Senator Paul Lowe, for this gift.
Sign up for free live stream access here: https://forms.gle/cQnhXt2easBFKQWu8
This opera will be sung in English and the length of the performance is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes with no intermission.
Parent Council News
Last week's parent council meeting notes and recording are available on the website.
Thank you for participating in the remote learning survey! We had over 250 responses and are putting together a report to share with you all, and the greater school community, soon! If you have any additional questions or comments, always feel free to reach out via our comment box.
Grade level Zooms
Keep an eye out for invitations to grade level Zooms from your class reps. We hope you will participate in these! If you would like to help organize more of these events, please let us know!
mClass Results
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction requires a kindergarten through third grade reading assessment called mClass to help teachers assess, track and support each student’s reading skills. Each student will be assessed every trimester using individualized reading assessments. Teachers will use this data to focus their instruction around your child’s specific needs, in areas that may include:
- Hearing and using sounds in spoken words (Phonemic Awareness)
- Knowing sounds of letters and sounding out written words (Alphabetic Principle)
- Reading words in stories easily, quickly, and correctly (Accuracy and Fluency)
- Understanding what they read (Reading Comprehension)
You will receive your child’s specific assessment results for the Middle of the Year Assessment during the Feb 22 Materials Exchange or US Postal Service. The letter will also include learning activities you and your child can do together at home to reinforce skills learned at school. Parent support and reading at home are a vital part of your child’s education. The teacher’s efforts, combined with your support, will help your child read with mastery and confidence. If you have any questions about the assessment, the activities, or your child’s classroom work and progress, please talk to your child’s teacher.
MAP results sent home
Third through eighth grade students will receive Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) results via Materials Exchange on Feb. 22 or US Postal Service. Overall results show that ABS students in each of those grades achieve higher scores than the national norms in all areas tested: reading and math. Due to remote learning at this time, the MAP testing was optional for students. Congratulations to our students and their teachers for a job well done. If you have any questions regarding MAP results, please contact your child’s teacher.
ReOpening School Plans
The Arts Based School will continue with Remote Learning. The Board will consider the return to in-person learning at the next Board meeting on Tuesday, March 9.
We continue to prepare for the return to the classrooms for parents that choose that option for their child. We are committed to following all current required Health and Safety requirements. provided by NCDHHS.
We are working with three plans:
- K-5 would follow Plan A-Regular schedule,4- 5 days a week, minimal distancing,mask mandatory
- 6-8 would follow Plan B-6 ft distancing, Every other Day attendance, mask mandatory
- Some students would elect Plan C-Remote Learning- Joining the classroom instruction via ZOOM while the teacher is teaching those in the classroom.
How Do I Stay Up to Date with School ReOpening Plans?
We’re doing our best to keep ABS families, staff, and community updated with the latest information about our School ReOpening. We will continue to provide information in multiple places, including direct email, Thursday Notes, and Virtual Parent Meetings. Our next virtual information meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 24th at 12 pm. You will receive an invitation and link via your email from Evite. If you have specific topics or questions, please send them to us via this form so we can be sure to address them. Form to submit questions.
Teacher Vaccine Update
Gov. Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina will move into Group 3 for coronavirus vaccinations on Feb. 24. Education workers will be prioritized in this group, with other essential workers being added on March 10, according to Gov. Cooper. During this time, people that are in Group 1 and Group 2 are still eligible to receive the vaccination. The Arts Based School is working directly with the Forsyth County Health Dept to coordinate a vaccine clinic to serve private/charter school staff.
PikMyKid Dismissal App
In our ongoing efforts to enhance your children’s safety, we will begin using the PikMyKid Dismissal Application. This system will allow us to avoid congregating students at dismissal tents, leaving them inside the classrooms until you arrive in the pickup line. This also allows us to collect daily health screening questionnaires from each student before they arrive on campus.
We are very excited about this addition and know you will be too. Check your emails over the next week for additional information and we will be on our way to a safer, quicker, and more efficient dismissal process. To learn a little more on your own, please check out this link that will show you a few of the PikMyKid features.