Fall 2020 Announcement

Dear Brightworks Community,

I’m writing to share with you that Brightworks will be starting the 2020/2021 school year in Distance Learning on August 26th.  We’ve held our decision to the last possible moment in hopes that tides would turn and cases improve.  However, with the news of a statewide data glitch resulting in the under-reporting of cases, it is clear that reopening will not be an option for some time.

We know that this presents challenges to families across the school. It is our intention to continue working with you all to foster a loving and supportive school experience from a distance as the city and state continue to update us on the possibilities of returning to in-person school. We’re vigorously pursuing all options for getting our community together face to face; please see below for more and be sure to join us for our Town Hall meeting tomorrow at 4:30 pm.

Revised Distance Learning Plan & Town Hall: After a spring of emergency distance learning and a summer of professional development, we’ve learned a lot about how to develop more collaborative and rich learning environments from a distance.  We are excited to take on this new year with a renewed vigor and adaptability!  

We will be holding a Town Hall tomorrow at 4:30 pm to share our revised distance learning plan.  We hope you can make it.  We understand that this is late notice so a recording will be made available on Friday for those who can’t attend synchronously.  

Technology Needs: Ensuring that we are meeting the technology needs of our community is a priority for us.  If you haven’t yet filled out this survey, please take the time to share with us your tech set up!  Thank you.

Elementary Waiver to Re-open: San Francisco Public Health Department has not yet released its waiver application process for reopening elementary schools.  We are committed to being prepared when that option becomes available.  To that end, if you have a student in our elementary school (K-5), please take the time to fill out this survey.  Thank you to the families who have filled it out already!  Because this is such a big decision we are hoping to have 100% participation in this survey.

Other Face-to-Face Possibilities: A flurry of information is coming out from local health officials that is guiding our active investigation into other methods to support kids being together, including the possibility of Tinkering School programs, child-care and tutoring programs, etc. We look forward to sharing more about these in the Town Hall tomorrow.  

Thank you for your continued support and partnership.  This school year will be the stuff of legend.  All of us, students, staff, and parents, will be telling stories of this time for years to come.  May those stories be about the heroic care and creativity we showed in the face of unprecedented uncertainty and struggle.  We are so grateful to be in this together.

Best Wishes,
Mackenzie and the Leadership Team