updated July 13, 2020

Dear Walden Families,

Since the beginning of May, our administrators, faculty, and staff have been diligently planning to bring in-person education back to Walden in August. We know that creating a healthy educational environment in the midst of a global pandemic is not easy and will require many adjustments to our daily life at school. However, we know the importance of the educational and social benefits in-person schooling has to offer. You, and the rest of our community, need and deserve Walden to be a safe place for students and rely on us to provide the same level of quality education, connection, and support you have always counted on.

After Governor Beshear’s Guidance on Safety Expectations and Best Practices for Schools was published in late June, Walden School’s leadership has fine tuned and adjusted our own plan for reopening. The plans detailed in this communication are in accordance with Governor Beshear’s requirements for schools and in some cases, very restrictive; however, we were able to capitalize on Walden’s optimal size to provide, what we feel, is a better plan for safe and healthy in-person schooling. Life at Walden this year will look a little different, but our school and community will still continue to be strong.

At the core of Governor Beshear’s and Walden’s plans are the requirements for physical distancing and the cohort/pod class model.

In order to maintain proper physical distance and to lessen contacts for our students, Walden’s classes (K-12) will be placed in pods assigned to an individual classroom. Each pod will remain together for the entirety of the school day. Instead of students moving from classroom to classroom, teachers will instead move to their classes which will include indoor and weather permitting, outdoor class locations. Despite a few exceptions, all students of a particular pod will have the same class schedule. Specific plans for how this will affect each division are detailed in the Division Director letters below.

In addition to the pod model, we have taken steps to limit the use of common areas such as the gym, lobbies, Tucker Assembly Hall, the library and the cafeteria.

Even though it may look a bit different, Chef Charlie has been working hard to develop plans to continue to serve quality lunches and deliver those lunches to the pods to eat in their classrooms. The administration has been working hard to set protocols for daily cleaning, sanitization, and student/faculty health checks in accordance with Kentucky’s Healthy at Work guidelines. Additionally, we have established sick rooms exclusively for the use of students with a fever. 

Please also note that in order to properly conduct health checks for students upon arrival to Walden each day, we have adjusted school start times per division:

• Lower School will begin their school day at 8:00am

• Middle School at 8:15am

• High School at 8:30am

This staggered shift in school start times will also result in staggered end of the school day dismissals and is further explained in our Division Director plans.

Above all, I want to thank Kelly Von Busch, Linda Kunz, Brad Kimbrough, Jeff Hamilton, Lee Cochran, and Charlie Shunnarah for their extraordinary work in planning for our reopening. Please take the time to read through the Division Director plans listed below:

Warm Regards,

ALISON TYLER
Head of School

Fall 2020

Division Director Plans

Three Learning Scenarios - Fall 2020

*Of course, for the emotional well-being of all, it is our priority to have everyone on campus but that may not be possible. Therefore, we are looking towards prioritizing in-person learning to meet developmental and age appropriate requirements.

The scenarios mentioned above are being developed with several priorities in mind: 

1. Health and safety of our community 

2. Engaging and robust academic curriculum

3. Opportunities for creative exploration and physical movement

4. Continued community connection and emotional support

All Kindergarten through 3rd Grade students will receive the use of an iPad and all 4th-12th grade students will receive the use of a Chromebook.

These devices will be preloaded with necessary software in support of academic instructional use on and off campus. In addition to these devices, students and families will experience a streamlined communication platform for all academic information and submissions. Moving forward, Walden's academic portal will only be utilized for student grade and progress reports. Student academic and emotional support services will continue throughout all scenarios and will be conducted in person or remotely based on Walden's educational deliverable at the time. I will be sure to provide you detailed updates throughout the summer regarding specifics of each scenario and how we plan to begin the start of school as it gets closer. 

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