Advancing the Mission, in Spite of a Pandemic

Advancing the Mission, in Spite of a Pandemic

BY VERA AZAR

W

hen Jordan went into a national lockdown in March 2020 and schools moved online, at King’s Academy we asked ourselves a question: When the world is pressured by a pandemic, how does an institution not compromise its mission, but advance it? This question has served as our compass and has inflected everything we have done over the past year.

That spring, we transformed our teaching and learning online, drawing from best practices already ingrained in our faculty. More teachers at King’s Academy teach for Global Online Academy (GOA) than almost any other school in the world. Our teachers distilled their knowledge into a guide to transitioning from onsite to online learning, which we used to shape our teaching as a school. In addition, we shared our practices with the teaching community around the world, leading

King’s staff line up for regular PCR testing on campus

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to the King’s Academy Guide for Teachers for a Smooth Transition from Onsite to Online Teaching being featured as a resource on the website of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE).

When, in keeping with Jordanian government recommendations, King’s opened the 2020-2021 academic year with social distancing measures, the reopening plan centered on two core objectives: protecting the health and safety of students and employees, and

providing the strongest possible learning experiences. Soon, however, the epidemiological situation in Jordan began to worsen and the government mandated that schools revert to online teaching. Since our Middle School only has a day program, it had to go online.

But we saw a unique opportunity in our Upper School, an opportunity to do something no other school in Jordan — and few in the world — had done. To overcome the instability of pivoting between in-person and online learning, we decided to establish a campus Green Zone that created a safe environment by reducing travel to and from campus to a bare minimum, thereby significantly reducing risk of contact with the virus. King’s Academy was the only school in Jordan allowed to conduct in-person classes during the fall wave.

In the Green Zone, students were able to enjoy an almost normal school experience that included Fall Festival fun

Excerpt from Board of Trustees Thank You Letter “The bubble was a real success last fall and during the first months of 2021 thanks to the community’s great sacrifices and commitment.

Many teachers and staff members had to leave their own families for long periods to make this work. This has often taken an enormous toll on your time and pushed most of you to new limits — but you all rose to the challenge as true professionals.

This Board cannot be more proud or more appreciative of each one of our stellar faculty, staff and leadership.”

Our fall Green Zone maintained the integrity of the boarding experience and provided our Upper School students with something exceedingly rare at this global moment: normalcy.

While much of the world moved online, King’s Upper School students sustained the hands-on, collaborative,

project-based and seminar-style learning that characterizes highestquality education.

At King’s we believe in the importance not only of academics, but also of character, teamwork and leadership development, and of building bridges across difference. In our Green Zone, athletic activities continued on our fields and gym. In dormitories, students from all backgrounds and geographies met and built stronger relationships than ever before.

The success of our Fall Green Zone led the majority of our families — both weekday boarding and day — to sign up yet again for the Spring Green Zone. Unfortunately, the arrival and prevalence of the new and highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant of the COVID-19 virus in Jordan put a wrench in our plans. After a fairly seamless spring semester opening, cases began to appear on campus, and despite our best efforts, we determined in early March of this year that our wisest course was to stop in-person learning and to revert to remote learning.

Nevertheless, the Green Zone experiment remains a reminder of what

can be, when enough dedicated people put their heads and hearts together and work tirelessly against all odds.

And it is proof, once again, of King’s Academy’s unwavering efforts to live up to its mission.

Excerpt from a Message by a Grateful Parent “We thank you for creating so much joy and peace of mind by protecting our children from this virus last term. We thank you for going above and beyond to provide housing and food for all your staff who chose to join your initiative on campus to ensure a successful in-person learning experience is in place. To King’s Academy, I send my love and appreciation for all those who are working towards the success of this great institution.”

SPRING 2021

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Beyond King’s spoke to faculty, staff and students to learn more about their experiences living and working in the Green Zone THE STAFF EXPERIENCE Director of Operations Ola Bseiso There were two parts to preparing for the Green Zone, according to Director of Operations Ola Bseiso: getting employees mentally and emotionally ready to leave their families for a few months, and the logistics of setting up the Green Zone. After understanding the reasons for and importance of the zone, King’s staff needed little convincing; however, the logistical side was more work, says Bseiso.

The aim of the GZ was to transition, over four or so weeks, through phases of preventive measures to stop potential spread of the virus, before eventually being free of restrictions: individual quarantine in hotels, dorm cohorts, masking and distancing, limited or no masking or distancing. Each phase came with its own logistical needs.

Alongside students and faculty, staff also needed to move into the GZ. While there was room for around 50 staff to reside on campus, a further 80 moved into nearby rented villas — an extension of the campus “bubble” — and were bused to and fro each day.

On campus, staff members were assigned to specific dorms and buildings, while housekeeping, maintenance, disinfection and other tasks had to be scheduled at precise times. “We got fogger machines to disinfect the classrooms. Every evening, staff would do walk-throughs, wiping down door and window handles, faucets etc. to make sure everything was disinfected.”

Mealtimes were the most challenging aspect, however, says Bseiso, as 1000 meals had to be cooked, packaged and delivered within a short window of time to each of the 15 cohorts — all with different dietary 8

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At every mealtime, Dining Hall staff prepared 1000 individually packaged meals

requirements — in their dorms around campus. “Time was of the essence because they have school. We even created a hotline for people to call in case someone was missing a meal, and we had a backup golf cart ready with extra meals and supplies ready to zip over to them.”

The dining hall needed to ensure that meals continued to follow their usual menus and offer a variety of options, despite being packaged individually for so many people. “You can’t just hand out sandwiches every day and say deal with it. We had to provide a healthy, sustainable meal.”

However, the packaged meals presented another problem: trash.

With King’s being committed to environmental sustainability and over the years continuously finding ways to reduce waste, the operations department was determined to find a solution. “We provided a lot more recycling bins to sort and separate all the packaging from the meals,” says Bseiso.

“I have to say that I am really proud of how the staff have stepped up.

COVID-19 helped the operations department become more organized, communicate better with each other, take more responsibility and ownership of their work. These new systems and procedures are going to carry over to post-pandemic times.”

THE FACULTY EXPERIENCE Faculty Member Dana Al-Khundakji “At first I was reluctant to leave Amman,” says chemistry teacher Dana Al-Khundakji when asked to join the Green Zone. “But I’m a science teacher and I lead sustainability activities at school, so it’s very important for me to be with the kids — everything is handson and it’s more fun to be around them; they give me my energy. I had the opportunity to do all the activities I wanted to do with my students. Just being able to come to class and have the kids greet you, it makes a huge difference just interacting and joking with them.”

“The part, professionally, that was hard, was when you have kids both at home and in class,” says Al-Khundakji of the hybrid teaching system. “It’s so hard to go back and forth and follow up online when you are moving around in your teaching space. That was the challenge.”

Dean of the Faculty Lilli Audeh “In the fall semester Green Zone, faculty got a chance to teach in person and unmasked,” says Dean of the Faculty Lilli Audeh. “There was a sense of normalcy. The benefit of being on campus is you get to connect with your students and colleagues more. When you are able to see each other in person, in the dorms, walking outside, sitting in the dining hall. Those casual conversations are really nice — you can’t do that while off campus. You feel isolated and our off-campus community members do feel isolated.”

That is why, explains Audeh, the school set up an off-campus faculty meeting place at a hotel in Amman for faculty, staff and even off-campus students to go. “Faculty can teach classes there, send packages back and forth between the school, or just have a change of scenery.”

With some adjustments, like a lot of outdoor dining, Green Zone students could still enjoy in-person time with friends

he could not leave on the weekends to be with his family. “I still found that the Green Zone was the best option,” he says. “It was a place to escape COVID-19 and live a normal life as much as possible, socially as well as educationally. We actually forgot about COVID-19 at some point. We forgot about the uncertainty, about wearing masks, disinfecting everything. When I left the GZ, the transition back to that was crazy.”

“We were lucky to have such an opportunity when almost no one in the world was going to school in person,” says Al-Derzi.

“As it’s my senior year, I wanted to spend every minute with friends and faculty on campus creating memories, knowing there won’t be more of that next year,” says Al-Derzi. “The challenge was being away from family and missing them, but King’s really did

help make it feel like home. Everyone got so much closer — bonds between students, faculty and staff became so much stronger. You basically live together for three months, so we were literally one big family. Even some students who were boarding for the first time got used to it and enjoyed it very much — and it was good practice for us seniors before going to college.”

Many activities would not have taken place if there had not been a Green Zone, according to Al-Derzi.

Students organized a fundraiser to furnish a senior lounge in the Student Union. They enjoyed a senior class pajama day, and had the opportunity to try on their graduation caps and gowns.

One day, they threw a large zaffeh (Arabic folk dance) party. Another night, they held a senior dinner, coordinating many of the details and logistics themselves.

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE Fanar Al-Derzi ’21, Student Leadership Council member For longtime weekday boarder Fanar Al-Derzi ’21, the only difference opting-in to the Green Zone was that

The Green Zone enabled theater students to perform together on stage