Communications during COVID-19

Dear SFC Families,

Friends, I have hope – it is a choice. While there’ve been moments where I have grown a little weary of this current predicament, in meditating on Psalm 46 this morning, something stood out to me – while the nations totter, God will help us. As a new morning dawns, this hopeful promise rings true. 

As you consider the eternal truths of Psalm 46, I have two updates:

1. In the coming days and weeks, we will hear of friends and family members who test positive for COVID-19. As this happens, we will all the more be compelled to pray for the health of everyone. Over the weekend, we were notified that three SFC parents have tested positive for COVID-19. Our prayers go out to these families as they recover. Please note, the San Diego County Health Department and Santa Fe Christian will not reveal information about these individuals for the sake of patient confidentiality. As a community, this is what we can do – pray and adhere to social distancing.
2. In order to support our greater San Diego community, we have partnered with the American Red Cross to host a blood drive in our gym April 8, from 9am-3pm. We have a generous community and expect our slots to fill up quickly. If that is the case, please consider donating blood at another location.

Moms and dads, now is the time to invest in your families. Do not lose hope. Choose to find a new understanding of the God we worship and learn from Psalm 46 (see below). Let’s continue to unite as a community through prayer!

Blessings, 

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,

    a very present help in trouble. 

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam,

    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy habitation of the Most High. 

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

    God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

    he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

    how he has brought desolations on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

    he burns the chariots with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God.

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth!”

The Lord of hosts is with us;

   the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Dear SFC Families,

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then, my fondness for you is growing exponentially! I know the same goes for the teachers as well. As amazing as the teachers are doing with Remote Learning, their hearts are aching to be with their students. Not only do they miss the face-to-face interaction while teaching – they miss the little things as well – seeing the kids playing on the playground, on our fields, and laughing with their friends in the Quad. When we do return, oh, what a day it will be!

Our temporal closure and Remote Learning has been extended to Thursday, April 9. From Friday, April 10, through Sunday, April 19, we will take our normally scheduled Easter break. Though we hope to return after the break, we will give an official update prior to April 8. We will continue to monitor the latest information and work with local medical officials to determine the best course of action for us all.

Below you will find more detailed information from our principals regarding each of the schools.  Let’s all continue to be patient with each other, extend grace, and agree that together, our fondness for one another is growing.

A virtual “high five” to you all,

Coronavirus Update March 16

Dear SFC Parents,

After thoughtful consideration and much prayer, we have decided to close both the Encinitas and Solana Beach campuses of Santa Fe Christian Schools beginning Saturday, March 14 through Friday, April 3. All extracurricular activities including sports practices and contests are canceled.

REMOTE EDUCATION PLAN

Principals will communicate to families our Remote Education Plan which will go into effect on Wednesday, March 18. You can expect communication from principals by Monday, March 16. All K-12 instruction will continue remotely during this temporary closure, and teachers will be communicating with students regularly.

EXTRACURRICULARS AND ATHLETICS

All school-sponsored events, trips, activities, and clubs are canceled. All athletics practices, competitions, and games are cancelled effective on Saturday, March 14.

COMMUNICATIONS

During this temporary closure, the principals will send periodic updates to each of their divisions. I will continue to communicate school-wide updates regularly.

Rod Gilbert

Head of Schools

March 26, 2020

Upper School Families,

We have now been in Remote Learning for a full seven days. Overall, I am very pleased with what’s been happening in classes and with learning moving forward in the new environment.  This week teachers have scheduled Zoom class meetings across all subjects and they have gone well. I’ve heard from students and teachers that seeing one another live has been a definite highlight and provided an opportunity to clarify assignments, give instruction, and pray with one another. Without question, we are all longing to be back on campus in the “normal” routine, yet I’m thankful for the technology and efforts of our teachers to provide this temporary alternative.

I’m very thankful to our ASB student leadership, Chapel Development group, and our US Community Team for providing opportunities for students to engage as a virtual community. You received an email on Tuesday about the QuaranTime podcast and today everyone will receive a short devotional from Mr. Garcia. ASB students are reaching out to their classmates individually and are posting some great questions and memories on Instagram (@sfcasb). All of these efforts reflect the heart of our campus as a connected community!

I want to let you know we have made two decisions as a school which will impact a large number of students regarding AP Testing and Community Service Hours:  

AP Exams

For the 2020 AP Exams, we are lifting the requirement for students in AP courses to take the exam in May. Given the changes the College Board has implemented and the disruption the pandemic has caused, if students elect to cancel their AP Exam and not sit for it, there will not be a penalty imposed by the school. We are working through the cancellation/refund process with our vendor, AP Testing Services.  If you would like to cancel your exam, please email the APTS cancellation desk at [email protected] and include: Student name; Name of their school (including city/state); Title of the exam to cancel.

I would like to encourage all of our AP students, however, to still take their exams. Two reasons for this encouragement. First, the reduced material on the revised exams has already been covered in nearly all of our classes. There’s now plenty of time for review and refinement and teachers are adjusting their schedules accordingly. Second, the emphasis on the new exams is on free-response writing prompts. Our SFC students are strong writers across all disciplines and, I believe, will do very well on the exams. This is an opportunity to play to our strengths and do well so I hope all students will choose to take their AP exams.

Community Service Hours

For the 2019-2020 academic year, we will suspend the community service hours requirement for all students. Given the social distance restrictions and the uncertain date of when they will be fully lifted, students will not be required to submit community service hours to the school. Those who have already completed some or all of their hours this year can turn in the form digitally to Mrs. Lyons ([email protected]) and you will receive credit for these hours towards 2020-2021. The hours are not lost, just rolled forward into the next academic year. Please send the hours to Mrs. Lyons by May 1 to receive credit.

And speaking of Social Distancing, I want to remind and encourage all students to observe the orders and restrictions currently in place. I know it’s difficult and we are tempted to get together at one another’s houses; however, this should not be happening.  My deepest desire is to get back to school as soon as possible and that requires us all to sacrifice in the short-term. Let’s all do our part and keep our eyes focused on the long-term goal of being together again as soon as we can.

The Admin Team continues to reach out to students, teachers, and parents to try and keep our finger on the pulse of Remote Learning. As always, if you have ideas, insights, comments, concerns, or suggestions, we welcome the feedback.

With the increase of Zoom usage, inappropriate hacking has also increased, called Zoom-bombing. We’ve consulted with the Information Security Director of Point Loma Nazarene University (an SFC parent) to set up necessary precautions, but please remind the students not to open unknown invitations, especially when they’re meeting their friends online without adult supervision. 

One final item: Easter Break. We will observe Easter Break as scheduled. There will not be classes nor work assigned to students April 10-17 in observance of Good Friday, Easter, and Spring Break. Enjoy the break!

May the Lord bless and keep you all–may His peace govern your homes, may His word speak to your hearts, and may we all remain healthy!

In Him,

–Matt

Matt Hannan

Upper School Principal

PS:  If you need a little encouragement today, take a listen to “Nothin’ Gonna Stumble” recorded remotely by our Concert Choir (well done, Mr. Bgatov and Choir students!).

Dear Middle School Families,

As we continue down this path of uncharted waters, I would like to thank you for your messages of appreciation, ideas for improvement, areas of concern, and reports from home. I am especially grateful for our Middle School Service Team who has been representing the parent perspective since before we launched remote learning. I asked the team to give me honest and constructive feedback and share what they are hearing from the rest of the parent body. That feedback has helped guide me, our leadership team, and our teachers to evaluate what we are doing and course-correct as needed. Thank you! I am also so thankful for my faculty who are creating, transferring, learning and adjusting to student needs as quickly as they are able while also managing their households. We are all in this together, and I trust a good rhythm will be established as we learn together!

The feedback I have received has been varied, to say the least. The reality that each of our students is a unique learner, every household is experiencing unique challenges, and our teachers are engaging remotely for the first time while tending to their own unique family circumstances, all create an interesting challenge for us as a school. Rest assured, it is not insurmountable and we remain committed to the academic, social/emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual needs of your children. 

One of the suggestions the teachers embraced this morning is the desire to institute a remote advisory session. Advisers have set up Zoom meetings with their advisees to check-in and ensure the students have the opportunity to touch base weekly at a minimum to continue that non-academic small group experience. I enjoyed watching Mr. Robinson’s advisory meet yesterday morning and discuss what the boys have been doing, the latest Netflix options, and get to know their pets. The social/emotional connection during this time of seclusion is so important for the children. So, thank you for the suggestion and we are glad to incorporate it into the schedule.

Across the board, the most significant frustration relayed to me has been the confusion of the weekly schedule and the amount of work assigned. Interestingly, I have received an equal number of comments that there has been too little work assigned as too much assigned. My desire is to find that middle balance. I was able to provide clarification to the teachers so that we are delivering consistent expectations for you and your child. The Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule is designed to provide the students with an opportunity for interaction with their teachers. Some teachers may hold Zoom meetings with direct instruction, some may have a question and answer time, and some may walk through expectations with the students. 

The Remote Learning Tiles contain the workload for the entire week. It is not expected that the students complete their assignments on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or over the weekend. The students are engaged in most of their classes from 9:00-1:30 and, frankly, it is exhausting. If at all possible, I recommend using Tuesday and Thursday to complete assignments. Based on the expectations that have been set with the teachers, I believe this should be manageable. 

We are currently working on setting up a digital weekly planner for each grade level that we hope will limit your need to become a homeschool parent by helping the students organize their daily assignments as well as see the whole week at a glance. Our teachers will link this digital planner weekly into each week’s Remote Learning Tile right at the top. Feel free to print it out and use it to see due dates and to check off assignments as they are completed. We’ve all seen the memes and videos out there; we will try to leave the teaching to the experts.

Zoom-bombing

With the increase of Zoom usage, inappropriate hacking has also increased, called Zoom-bombing. We’ve consulted with the Information Security Director of Point Loma Nazarene University (an SFC parent) to set up necessary precautions, but please remind the students not to open unknown invitations, especially when they’re meeting their friends online without adult supervision. 

Spring Break

We will observe Spring Break as scheduled. There will not be classes nor work assigned to students April 10-17 in observance of Good Friday, Easter, and Spring Break. Enjoy the break!

Community Service Hours

For the 2019-2020 academic year, we will suspend the community service hours requirement for all students. Given the social distance restrictions and the uncertain date of when they will be fully lifted, students will not be required to submit community service hours to the school. Those who have already completed some or all of their hours this year can turn in the form digitally to Mrs. King ([email protected]fcs.net) and you will receive credit for these hours towards 2020-2021. The hours are not lost, just rolled forward into the next academic year. Please send the hours to Mrs. King by May 1 to receive credit.

I want to remind and encourage all students to observe the orders and restrictions currently in place. I know it’s difficult and we are tempted to get together at one another’s houses; however, this should not be happening. If it makes it easier for you, tell them Dr. Deveau said they can’t. I don’t mind being the bad guy.

If you need a little encouragement today, take a listen to “Nothin’ Gonna Stumble” recorded remotely by our Concert Choir (well done, Mr. Bgatov and Choir students!).

God bless your families during this time. I hope to visit you by video next week.

–Todd

Todd Deveau

Middle School Principal

March 25, 2020

Dear Parents,

On behalf of the LS teachers, I want to thank you for the outpouring of support and encouragement. It’s officially been one week since we launched our Remote Learning platform and to say that the learning curve was steep is an understatement. Families had to figure out how to manage to homeschool while working and taking care of their children; the students had to adjust to a completely different way of doing school, while simultaneously having all activities canceled; and the teachers had to learn how to launch and build a new way of delivering their lessons while caring for their own families. Given all the variables, I think we did exceptionally well for our first week. 

Class Schedule

In my last video message, I asked you to give me some feedback and I appreciate many of your thoughtful comments and suggestions. The most common thread I heard was that kids LOVED meeting with their class and seeing their teachers. Also, increasing directed teacher instruction time (live or flipped classes) would be appreciated. We came up with a schedule that I feel will meet the varied needs of the students (specific schedule will be communicated by your teacher):

• K & 1st
  • Whole class Zoom, M-Th 
  • Small group Zoom instruction 3x/week
  • Optional small group/ individual practice 1x/week
• 2nd & 3rd
  • Whole class Zoom, M-Th
  • Small group Zoom instructions 4x/week
  • Individual reteach sessions as needed 
• 4th & 5th
  • Homeroom Zoom, 3x/week
  • Whole class Zoom or flipped video lessons 5x/week
  • Zoom office hours 2x/week to connect with teachers and ask questions (optional)

Zoom-bombing

With the increase of Zoom usage, inappropriate hacking has also increased, called Zoom-bombing. We’ve consulted with the Information Security Director of Point Loma Nazarene University (an SFC parent) to set up necessary precautions, but please remind the students not to open unknown invitations, especially when they’re meeting their friends online without adult supervision. 

Specials and Additional Support

In addition to these sessions, we will have specials teachers (along with myself and Mrs. Walker) connect with students via Zoom. Our specials teachers have provided many activities for your children to try so be sure to check out their class pages. Also, our incredible TAs and Preschool teachers will be providing additional support to those who want/need it. 

Chromebook

For those of you with multiple children in the LS, the new schedule will often overlap grade levels. If you need to check out a Chromebook, please fill out this form. 

Easter Break

We will observe Easter Break as scheduled. There will not be classes nor work assigned to students April 10-17 in observance of Good Friday, Easter, and Spring Break. Enjoy the break!

We’re adjusting and tweaking as kids become more familiar with this new way of doing school. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work out the kinks. I’m sure we’ll face other obstacles that we’re not able to see just yet but I know we can overcome them. 

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the joke submissions by the kids. I miss them so much; it filled me up to see them laughing. Keep ‘em coming!

I’m praying for you and your family. Our trust, love, and hope grow stronger and deeper when we’re stretched so I’m praising God for this opportunity to draw closer to Him. 

Blessings,

Hannah Park

Lower School Principal

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Dear LS Parents,

Greetings from my house to yours. I wanted to send a quick message to the kids. Could you show this video to your children?

Greetings from Mrs. Park

To keep our students engaged in the community and to lighten things up a bit, I’ve created a Flipgrid topic for the kids to submit their best jokes. If your child has a great joke to share (I will preview before allowing it to post) then email Mrs Park for the code.

Thank you for the many encouraging words to our teachers. I know it has not been easy to transition so quickly but I want to thank you all for your patience and grace during this time. The LS teachers are working together to ensure that we’re providing the right balance of work for the students. Please do not hesitate to let me know how things are going. We are adjusting hour by hour, so we truly appreciate the feedback.

Praying for you all,

Hannah Park
Lower School Principal

SFC Students,

Congrats on a successful first day of remote learning! For the most part, we are hearing that things went well as we are all figuring out how to navigate this unexpected new experience. While we miss being together in person, getting to connect in various ways yesterday brought some needed joy to our community. Thank you for your positive attitudes and willingness to learn on the fly!

We asked a number of you for feedback since we know this is new, and we want to make sure we can help you adjust. Remote learning is different in terms of when you complete work and how you manage your schedule. In light of some of your feedback, we want to share the below tips to help to clarify a few things:

• You are NOT expected to complete all your assigned work during your 30 minute “class times.” The work your teachers assign for the week can be done at any time you wish, provided it gets turned in by the due date.
• Lecture videos, reading assignments, and other projects are intended to be done outside of “class time.” Tuesdays and Thursdays are an ideal time to do this work – that’s why we intentionally scheduled nothing on those days. In many cases, teachers will be assigning you work on Monday that needs to be completed by Friday.
• “Class times” on M/W/F are touchpoints with your teachers. Sometimes your teachers may do a mandatory lesson through Zoom; other times, they may simply use those days as an optional time for you to connect with them as needed. Each week, teachers will clearly note on their remote learning tile if there are mandatory class times for you to attend.
• Remote learning requires you to manage your schedule more proactively and independently than on-campus learning. It also gives you much greater flexibility as to when you choose to work on school. Each week, you should identify: A) Which classes have mandatory attendance events, and B) What/when assignments are due that week. Then, you get to plan how you use your time for the week! You can map out which times and days you want to work on school, which subjects to work on, etc. It requires more independent management, but it also gives you more freedom.

One way of thinking about our remote learning structure is:

• M/W/F are days to connect with your teachers during specific times
• T/TH are days to complete work
• You can always reach out to your teachers for clarification, as needed

We understand this is an adjustment – for you and for us – and every day we will all get better at remote learning. We are confident you’ll quickly get used to this schedule and many of you will love the flexibility it provides. Please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us if you have further questions!

–Mr. Hannan, Mrs. Oden, and Mr. Siciliano