ROGRAM HIGHLIGHT 2
THE RESILIENCE OF OUR COMMUNITY Adaptability, collaboration, creativity, communication, and preparation are the ideals the Brandeis administration, faculty, staff, and facilities team invoked when preparing for the 2020-2021 school year. As we made plans to bring our students back to campus, providing for their physical safety while addressing the emotional and spiritual impacts due to the pandemic, were at the forefront of our collective awareness and were paramount to maintaining the confidence of our community to ensure the return could be sustained. With Martin Lipman at the helm of the facilities team, over $150,000 of health and safety improvements and upgrades were implemented across the campus. This included the construction and installation of hand washing stations by every door, touchless water dispensers in the gym, middle school and lower school buildings, and an outdoor tented teacher’s lounge, only to name a few. In conjunction with the physical upgrades, health protocols such as daily symptoms screening, temperature checks, school-wide testing and the hiring of a school nurse, all played an important role that sustained and secured a return to in-person learning. Brandeis strove to address the ever-changing complexities of reopening with an eye towards holistically addressing the practical needs of making learning accessible, whether in the classroom or while learning from home. Providing iPads, laptop computers, learning apps, and distributing school supplies to every Brandeis student prior to the start of the school year were critical to implementing
an instructional model that was flexible and could take place on campus or from home. It also meant providing professional development for faculty on the use of virtual learning platforms and new ways to dynamically engage students in online learning, especially for our youngest learners. We also had to re-envision our curriculum in order to sustain stable cohorts in the classroom, and reconfigure our learning spaces so that students could eat and play safely together. The return to the 2020-2021 school year looked nothing like the Brandeis so many of us know and upended what new families hoped to experience. However, finding ways to engage our families both from a school standpoint and a community perspective were critical to building and growing community at Brandeis. This meant families were invited to explore new virtual engagements from backto-school nights to lighting up their living rooms in a school-wide Hanukkah celebration, and then when it was safe, hosting outdoor events on campus to celebrate our volunteers and graduates to close out the school year. Thank you to every member of our community who placed the school at the center of your lives with generous support. It made an incredible difference in how we were able to respond to the challenges of last year and we came out stronger because of the immeasurable ways you demonstrated your commitment and care for the school, our students, faculty and staff, and each other.
REINVENTING ARTS INTEGRATION IN THE TIME OF COVID The pandemic era exercised the need and capacity for using creative and adaptive approaches to preserve the art and maker education programs for the lower school. To limit exposure on campus by maintaining stable cohorts and teaching teams, one specialist teacher was assigned to each grade to integrate art and maker education with literacy, social studies, math and science, in order to showcase the benefits and beauty of cross-curricular integration. One highlight of the integrated curriculum was librarian, artist, and social justice advocate Bel Beeson who teamed up with the fourth grade to foster the love of literacy in students with a reading list that included books with themes of social justice
and LGBTQIA+ issues, such as Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds. Ms. Beeson opened the door to colorful literary experiences with graphic novel writing, research, and digital media education that culminated in students designing murals with a social justice issue theme. As part of the project, mural artist Sean Bullwen whose work is featured throughout the Bay Area, met and spoke with each student about their work.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION ARE CELEBRATED AT BRANDEIS From the classroom to the dining room to the conference room, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) was at the forefront of Brandeis’ collective conscience in 2020-2021. In a year that was marked by an unprecedented and remarkable social awakening, the Brandeis community embraced the opportunity to dive in and make a difference. The existing faculty and staff DEI committee was joined by the newly formed Parents’ Association and Board of Trustees DEI committees to explore and develop a more comprehensive, informed, and activated leadership role in the school. As is often the case, our students were already leading this charge, asking questions that called for a broadening of our awareness, then transforming that awareness into action. Harkening to the Hebrew word shema, meaning to “obey“ or “listen,“ the intention of listening is inextricably linked to the words, obeying or doing. The unfolding partnership between leadership, faculty, and students saw this action played out in every classroom. The following initiatives, highlighted below, were celebrated throughout the 2020-2021 school year. • The student-led Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) empowered students to explore, express, and celebrate their gender identities, and to thoughtfully consider how our community might integrate new pronouns into everyday life.
• The Lit Circles Program, offered to second through fourth grade, provided an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in stories focusing on DEI topics including gender, LGBTQIA+, race/ethnicity/culture, socioeconomics, and ableism. • School booklists and library displays featured stories and voices from protagonists that have been traditionally underrepresented in literature. • Teachers reshaped and expanded their curriculum to include creative thinking aimed at fostering a more equitable world. • Middle school teachers integrated land acknowledgments at Brandeis into their practices, propelling conversations around land, ownership, and colonialism. • Teachers revamped their books and materials to better answer to teaching DEI. Thank you families, students, teachers, and staff. You continue to amaze and inspire change, locally and globally, by creating a more inclusive, embracing, and open society! Tikkun olam in action.
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