More Back-to-School Details for the River Campus

Avé, Roberto, Paul
School Starts August 25 & We Are So Excited for Your Return!
School Starts August 25 &
We Are So Excited for Your Return!
Dear River Community,

We are ready for our August 25 start of school, and so excited for your child's return. In the coming weeks  there will be several events that will take place for both new and returning students and families, and are intended to not only smooth our transition to Headwaters@Home, but also, importantly, to provide much needed time for (re)connection. 

We wanted to make you aware of what you can expect this coming academic year, especially pertaining to our program and our guides. We have been proactively planning how we will deliver Headwaters to your student. We realize that this year holds many uncertainties and want to provide you with as much clarity as possible regarding who will deliver instruction and what our courses will look like. 

It is also important to acknowledge that school encompases more than academic life. We will work hard to build a social and supportive community that students and families are missing right now. Our  goal is to continue to create opportunities for students to engage in special and unique experiences through advisory, clubs, Pitsos, and beyond. 

Back-to-School Events 
For Seniors, we realize that this school year will not begin in a way that any of you could have imagined three short years ago. We would like to provide you with a space to share ideas about ways to make this, your final year at Headwaters, meaningful to you, most especially in an online space. To that end, we will host a Senior-only event tomorrow, Friday, August 14 from 4-5 p.m. via Zoom. Please come with your thoughts, hopes, questions, and visions for this year. Students received an email invitation to this event via their Google Calendars. The link will also be in the Nest for the 12th Grade Student Group. Other grade levels can look forward to unique experiences. More info coming soon. 

A quick reminder that New Student Orientation for Middle School students will take place on Tuesday, August 18 and Thursday, August 20 from 1-2 p.m. For new High School students, the session will take place Thursday, August 20 from 1-2:15 p.m. Students will receive an email invitation to this event via their Google Calendars. In addition, links will be available in the Nest for either HS Student Group or MS Student Group. 

Back-to-School Night will take place on the evening of Tuesday, August 18 from 7-8 p.m. Students and parents are welcome! Please be advised that, because many guides have overlapping responsibilities, the schedule will adhere to the following format and links will be emailed soon: 
  • 7-7:25 p.m. High School in the Zoom Studio / Middle School in Advisory Meetings 
  • 7:30-8 p.m. Middle School in the Zoom Studio / High School in Advisory Meetings
Meet-the-Guide Night will take place on the evening of Thursday, August, 20 from 7-8 p.m. This will be an opportunity for students and parents to drop in for casual conversations. Guides will explain how their space operates and provide a general overview of what to expect in the courses they will be teaching this year. Each guide will post their respective Zoom link to their Bulletin Boards for each class, but we will also create a document and share with families in the Nest with all the links for this evening. The Academic Leadership Team (Avé, Roberto, Paul C.) will also be available via Zoom.

And, of course, school will start with distance learning on Tuesday, August 25. The first day of school will follow an A-Day schedule (see below). The first week will be A, B, A, B with no Flex day.

Program & Schedule
This year, we will start with  Headwaters@Home distance learning. We will be in this mode for at least the first eight weeks (until October 16), with the intention to provide on-campus experiences when it's safe to do so. We will continue to keep families in touch with our planning and our decision making. Our Headwaters@Home schedule will be comparable to the school's schedule this past spring. Please find our updated schedule here:
 
*The first week will be A, B, A, B with no Flex day.

Student Schedules
We are finalizing student schedules and will send a note out next week when they are ready. At that time, they will be able to be viewed in the Nest. 

Staffing Update
We are sad to be saying goodbye to a few guides here at the River Campus. We are thankful for their incredible work and dedication in and out of the classroom. Please join us in thanking Shekema Dunlap and Lorena Germán. We are grateful for them and wish them the best. In addition, Mike Franz will be stepping down as High School Athletics Coordinator and will only be teaching one class this fall before he takes a step back from teaching. We are sad to know Mike is leaving soon, but so happy he can spend some time with students this fall. 

We have some new people we are thrilled to welcome to the River Campus! Please joining us in welcoming these new community members:
  • Will Clark will be joining us as our new Middle School English guide for 7th and 8th grades. Will's background is Literature, with a Master's degree in English Education. He comes to us most recently from teaching public school in Athens, GA.
  • Lidia Galarza will be joining as our new Spanish Teacher. For the past fifteen years, Lidia has worked in private, public, and international schools from the elementary to high school level. She is an IB trained teacher with state certifications in Foreign Languages and Bilingual Education. 
  • Megan McQuaid is joining us officially and we are so excited! Megan has been with the school in various capacities for the past two years (in the classroom and theatre director). This year, she will be in the classroom teaching Theory of Knowledge (TOK). 
  • And, of course, early this summer we welcomed new High School Director Avé Luke-Simpson to our team. Avé has been busy at work with the River team and is guiding the High School program with passion and care. 
  • We are still in the process of hiring for the 9th Grade Literature & Composition position. We have some incredible educators who have interviewed for this position and we are in the final stages of hiring. We look forward to announcing a new guide very soon.
Thank you all for your continued patience as we get closer to the start of the school year. 

If you have any questions in regards to the plans, please contact riverplanning@headwaters.org. This email goes to all three of us so you will get an answer promptly. 

Thank you,

Avé, Roberto, Paul

Avé Luke-Simpson
Director of High School
Roberto Germán
Director of Middle School
Paul Cronin
Director of Studies
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As a 501(c)3 non-profit school, Headwaters School does not discriminate because of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other classes protected by federal, state, or local law in its admissions, financial aid, hiring, or board membership processes.