RALEIGH, N.C. — Ravenscroft School has sent a letter to its students and families saying they will transition to virtual teaching and learning effective Monday.
The letter says "After very careful consideration and in support of our community, public health and wellness, Ravenscroft is transitioning to virtula teaching and learning effective Monday, March 16, 2020, for two weeks."
The letter also states that school will "conduct as much school business as possible online and will limit access to campus to essential personnel." Security will not allow anyone into the school without explicit permission."
Ravenscroft officials also said there are not any known or suspected cases of COVID-19 in the school.
Below is the letter with more details:
Dear Ravenscroft families,
As Chair of the Board and Head of School, we would like to share an update with you about our continuing actions and decisions to address concerns surrounding Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Our full faculty and staff workday held on Monday was very productive. This week our teachers are working in classes and practicing with students to help build understanding, awareness and familiarity with the tools and techniques that will facilitate virtual teaching and learning. Advisors and counselors are also working to consider how best to support students.
After very careful consideration and in support of our community, public health and wellness, Ravenscroft is transitioning to virtual teaching and learning effective Monday, March 16, 2020, for two weeks.
We aim to conduct as much school business as possible online and will limit access to campus to essential personnel. Security will not permit admission to any buildings or athletics facilities (including outdoor) without explicit permission.
Ravenscroft is not taking this action in response to any known or suspected cases of COVID-19 in our school community. We’re seeing both public and private organizations and universities respond to COVID-19 in a variety of ways, and at the core of the responses is the notion of “social distancing” — techniques used to slow the spread of a virus or disease. Our decision to transition to holding classes online is made with our community’s health and well-being in mind and in hopes of supporting public health officials with the notion of “social distancing” to slow the very rapid spread of COVID-19.
What does this mean?
Ravenscroft will hold regular on-campus classes tomorrow and Friday, March 12 and 13, and continue our ongoing preparations and “readiness” for online classes with our students, faculty and staff — including distributing Chromebooks to our fifth-grade students.
On Monday, March 16, 2020, we will conduct our first virtual school-day with classes starting at 8 a.m. and following the normal Day 2 schedule.
To help with our preparations, we are asking every family to complete a short survey so we can best support you during the days of virtual classes.
In addition, we have developed resources and information about Virtual Learning at Ravenscroft to help everyone in our community better understand what it means to teach and learn remotely.
For grades fifth through 12th, please refer to Virtual Learning at Ravenscroft for Grades 5-12.
For Lower School grades PreK through fourth, please refer to Virtual Learning at Ravenscroft for Lower School.
We understand there will be questions, and we are prepared to help students and families through our shared virtual learning experience.
Events, Athletics and Fine Arts
We are canceling the following events this week and any other updates will be provided as needed:
First-grade field trip to Raleigh Little Theatre, scheduled for Friday, March 13
Middle School dance scheduled for Friday, March 13
St. Baldricks, scheduled for Saturday, March 14, is postponed.
Starting Monday, March 16, 2020, all on-campus events and activities are suspended — including team sports.
We have canceled all upcoming overnight field trips for March and April
Thank you for your ongoing patience and support as we work together for the health, safety and well-being of everyone in our community. We will continue to evaluate our situation over the next two weeks and provide updates through email as well as through the Ravenscroft Coronavirus Resources webpage.
