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Covid-19 Information & Resources
End of May Letter From Leadership
Dear CCES families,
In the midst of uncertainty, some may be tempted to fill in the blanks with dire forecasts. To avoid these perils, CCES will provide timely and accurate information in our correspondence. This letter will share our deliberate planning process, and the June 19th correspondence will report explicit and concrete details about the look of school in August.
We assure you that our planning recognizes the possibility of hairpin turns around the bend but designs our strategies for straightaways. We are planning for multiple scenarios that include managing surprises, but we are centering on the reunion of the community in August on our campus with the necessary safeguards for each division and activity. We will focus on the reliable attributes of the CCES brand: first-rate instruction in every teaching space; a coordinated and stimulating P-12 program that prepares students for higher education from the first year; far-ranging opportunities in the arts and athletics; a commitment across the board to service to others; and a dedication to spiritual formation.
The planning team for the 2020-21 school year is led by our head-elect, who formally takes the reins on July 1. David and I have worked side-by-side all year. We virtually complete each other’s sentences. The summer will be no different except that he will be the CEO, and I am on call if and when needed to make decisions about those things over which we have control and to anticipate factors out of our control. We have one unwavering standard: as much as possible the restoration of the CCES experience with which the 2019-20 year opened.
We are developing three scenarios. Plan A, our decided preference, is a total on-campus return. As a fallback scenario, we would contemplate a hybrid platform, Plan B, only in Upper and/or Middle Schools and only if mitigation measures force us to include a virtual component. We will institute mitigation measures sensibly, carefully adjusting to differences in class size, age of students, curriculum, and activity (academics, arts, athletics, service projects, and spiritual life). In the event of an emergency mandate, we would activate Plan C, a P-12 virtual platform, refined and upgraded through the lessons we learned this spring. Rest assured, we will restore as much normality as possible, but the new normal will include habits and practices designed to maintain safety and health. We anticipate special cases that these models don’t precisely accommodate—for example, the family that prefers a virtual platform while we are fully live. CCES has always made every effort to work with families, balancing individual needs with institutional priorities.
The leadership team and task forces draw from diverse sources: public health sources (CDC, DHEC, and WHO); our regional and national independent school associations that have been supplying data, white papers, and webinars en masse to us; journals and newspapers; and colleagues in other schools. We are saturated with models and methodologies. At the end of the day, however, we are solving for CCES, factoring in the particularities of its culture, history, and community and placing health and safety as our paramount concern.
Planning for the next school year relies on four centers of attention under David’s careful oversight: Assistant Head for Academics, Dr. Angela Allen, leads the planning for curriculum and instruction; Assistant Head for Finance and Operations, Doug Qualls, directs planning for operations; Assistant Head for Advancement, Jamie Inman, oversees communications; and Senior Chaplain, Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, leads efforts to address the full range of student and teacher/staff wellness. Each leader has already assembled a task force, which extends its work into granular units and grassroots participation. In other words, the work is a team effort capitalizing on the rich resources within our workforce, our parent body, and the general community.
We are targeting June 19th for the next extended communication with parents and faculty to outline what the fall will look like for each division. During the summer, we will test methods and train employees so that we can stress test our plans, procedures, and policies to ensure an on-time, in-person start.
As always, these communications are not one-way. Please contact me, or David, or any of the four team leaders, or all of us together.
Yours very truly,
In the midst of uncertainty, some may be tempted to fill in the blanks with dire forecasts. To avoid these perils, CCES will provide timely and accurate information in our correspondence. This letter will share our deliberate planning process, and the June 19th correspondence will report explicit and concrete details about the look of school in August.
We assure you that our planning recognizes the possibility of hairpin turns around the bend but designs our strategies for straightaways. We are planning for multiple scenarios that include managing surprises, but we are centering on the reunion of the community in August on our campus with the necessary safeguards for each division and activity. We will focus on the reliable attributes of the CCES brand: first-rate instruction in every teaching space; a coordinated and stimulating P-12 program that prepares students for higher education from the first year; far-ranging opportunities in the arts and athletics; a commitment across the board to service to others; and a dedication to spiritual formation.
The planning team for the 2020-21 school year is led by our head-elect, who formally takes the reins on July 1. David and I have worked side-by-side all year. We virtually complete each other’s sentences. The summer will be no different except that he will be the CEO, and I am on call if and when needed to make decisions about those things over which we have control and to anticipate factors out of our control. We have one unwavering standard: as much as possible the restoration of the CCES experience with which the 2019-20 year opened.
We are developing three scenarios. Plan A, our decided preference, is a total on-campus return. As a fallback scenario, we would contemplate a hybrid platform, Plan B, only in Upper and/or Middle Schools and only if mitigation measures force us to include a virtual component. We will institute mitigation measures sensibly, carefully adjusting to differences in class size, age of students, curriculum, and activity (academics, arts, athletics, service projects, and spiritual life). In the event of an emergency mandate, we would activate Plan C, a P-12 virtual platform, refined and upgraded through the lessons we learned this spring. Rest assured, we will restore as much normality as possible, but the new normal will include habits and practices designed to maintain safety and health. We anticipate special cases that these models don’t precisely accommodate—for example, the family that prefers a virtual platform while we are fully live. CCES has always made every effort to work with families, balancing individual needs with institutional priorities.
The leadership team and task forces draw from diverse sources: public health sources (CDC, DHEC, and WHO); our regional and national independent school associations that have been supplying data, white papers, and webinars en masse to us; journals and newspapers; and colleagues in other schools. We are saturated with models and methodologies. At the end of the day, however, we are solving for CCES, factoring in the particularities of its culture, history, and community and placing health and safety as our paramount concern.
Planning for the next school year relies on four centers of attention under David’s careful oversight: Assistant Head for Academics, Dr. Angela Allen, leads the planning for curriculum and instruction; Assistant Head for Finance and Operations, Doug Qualls, directs planning for operations; Assistant Head for Advancement, Jamie Inman, oversees communications; and Senior Chaplain, Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, leads efforts to address the full range of student and teacher/staff wellness. Each leader has already assembled a task force, which extends its work into granular units and grassroots participation. In other words, the work is a team effort capitalizing on the rich resources within our workforce, our parent body, and the general community.
We are targeting June 19th for the next extended communication with parents and faculty to outline what the fall will look like for each division. During the summer, we will test methods and train employees so that we can stress test our plans, procedures, and policies to ensure an on-time, in-person start.
As always, these communications are not one-way. Please contact me, or David, or any of the four team leaders, or all of us together.
Yours very truly,
Leonard Kupersmith
Head of School
Head of School
David Padilla
Incoming Head of School
Incoming Head of School
Christ Church Episcopal School (“CCES”) admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at CCES. CCES does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, scholarship or other programs, or athletic or other school-administered programs and activities.