Outside/Inside

I’ll start by apologizing for the weather — no, really! I’m sorry about all the delays at the start of the day. I know it throws your day for a loop. I’ve never spent so much time looking at weather in eastern Pennsylvania… That said, let me catch you up on some other events and happenings at the school:

Outside work: Finally, we have been promised that work will start on the solar array during the February break. We have talked to the engineers, and, as planned, they are going to put aside some trees for us to repurpose. I would be interested in hearing about any examples or experiences you have had with outdoor playgrounds, as we want to capture this moment to think about this great outdoor resource at the school. In a related project, the cell phone tower is being upgraded and modernized — a similar footprint and 7 feet higher, but we tested the height with balloons and it is still well hidden by the tree canopy. And, I’m told it’s bee season, or at least honey bee ordering season, and we are going to be ordering a hive, to be placed on the southern end of the property towards Spackenkill Road. This will become, with all safety precautions, part of our science/ecology curriculum.

Inside work: We have a newly lit gym, bright with  LED lights paid for by the Green Future Campaign. If you have not seen them please stop by and see the students playing a game. I didn’t grow up playing basketball, and it never made much sense on television (my suggestion that all NBA games start at 90-90 and see where it goes from there, has never caught on…) but as a teacher, when I saw students I knew, working as a team and pushing each other to individual moments of achievement, I got why it was compelling. Look on MyPDS for the schedule for the final games of the regular season, and also notice that going forward we are trying out the idea of serving food and selling PDS spiritwear at the last games of the season for each sport. We want people from all grades to come and cheer their school mates on! And, if you do come to any event — not just games at school — please send pictures/short video clips to our communication coordinator Andrea Tufts or simply post them to the PDS Facebook page. If you email Andrea, she can share them to the main timeline.

Safety: We continue to work steadily on our Emergency Response Plan, engaging with consultants and making sure the systems function smoothly before practicing with students. And, before we do that, I will be sure to let families know how it will be done. The goal is to take the drills seriously, without making children worried, and for the younger students this is often done by talking about weather emergencies. We will also be introducing a swipe ID card system for the exterior doors in Gilkeson and Kenyon, as part of a fire and security alarm upgrade. Faculty and staff will have the cards, and so will high schoolers. This will allow us to better control which doors are open when, and monitor access to both buildings. If you have any questions, please be in touch with me.

Lastly, on Monday, the Board of Trustees adopted the Diversity statement that I sent around and was discussed last week. This will be posted on the website, along with what we are doing to make the thoughts come alive at school. Thank you for your support and ideas as we worked on it over the last few months. I look forward to it being a useful tool as we have many more conversations.

And now, back to the cold front heading in from the west — children should check MyPDS, email and class websites to see whether there is work assigned tomorrow. If there is work to be done, it will be posted by mid morning. Let’s see how accurate the weather forecasters are!

Ben