Community Briefing: June 26, 2020

A briefing will be sent to the entire community every Friday at this time.

Staffing Update

Ed Castro, DMA, Instrumental Music teacher at EPS for the past several years has agreed to add another responsibility.  Dr. Castro will serve as Interim Equity, Inclusion, and Compassionate Leadership Coordinator during Ms. McKinney’s absence.  Dr. Castro has been involved with this program since its inception, and is eager to take this leadership role to advance the progress already made through Ms. McKinney’s efforts.  Dr. Castro will join the Student Well Being Team, which includes Medical Support, Counseling, and Experiential Education all under the direction of Paul Hagan.  Congratulations, Dr. Castro—and thank you for stepping up to embrace this leadership opportunity.

Program Update: Athletics

EPS P.E. Classes and Sports: What Will the Fall Look Like?

We all know that participating in physical education and sports has known health benefits. In addition to physical fitness and mental wellness, sports provide the foundation for young athletes to learn important concepts such as teamwork, leadership, work ethic, sportsmanship and integrity. Although the world has been challenged with a pandemic that is keeping our students physically distanced, at EPS we are still fully on board and committed to student wellness and working hard on exactly what that looks like when it comes to our Physical Education (P.E.) program.

With safety being our main priority, our P.E. classes will be able to adapt and shift our focus from group/team building games to individual development. These times provide us a unique opportunity to emphasize different aspects of movement allowing us to create new ways of training given our limited space and inability to share equipment. While practicing social distancing, we will provide exercises that emphasize fundamentals and proper technique and will focus on how different exercises affect the body. But most importantly, we will make sure that each student is engaged, having fun and taking ownership in their development—with multiple leadership opportunities.

 

You may be asking, what will the cleaning process look like and how often will it happen? Our invaluable facilities crew will be cleaning and disinfecting the campus on a regular basis. In addition, our P.E. teachers and coaches will ensure that all athletes are properly washing their hands and/or using hand sanitizer frequently. All equipment and machines will be sanitized before and after each use and balls will be wiped down between drills. Each of our teachers and coaches will be equipped with disinfecting wipes and sprays, ready to tackle any germ that tries to invade our space!

Going forward, the Athletic Office is committed to keeping on top of the latest health news and prevention advice—both from federal and state sources—ensuring our operations are in strict compliance with recommendations. We are going to be implementing a phased return-to-play approach for our fall sports teams and are in the process of developing our comprehensive return-to-play document with sport-specific considerations that will go out in a future community briefing.

Let’s all work together to balance safety, well-being, engagement and fun!

Kim Eng – Director of Athletics

Athletics Registration

Registration for fall sports is now open and will close on July 3.  Registration can be found HERE. Please contact Director of Athletics Kim Eng with any questions.

Summer and Back-to-School Picnics

The EPS Parent Association and Class Reps are working with the school to plan New Family Summer picnics the week of July 27 as well as All Grade-Level Back-to-School Picnics the week of August 31 to September 4. We are closely monitoring the change in government guidelines and will communicate with families as soon as we are able to make a plan. Options include small in-person gatherings at EPS or a public venue, a virtual gathering or a hybrid of the two. Our Hospitality Team and Class Reps will keep you informed as we get closer to the time but until then, please enjoy your summer holiday and keep well.

Please contact Parent Association (PA) President Claudia Bayer with questions.

EPS Allies for Equity Host Second Discussion on the Black Lives Matter Protests

The EPS Allies for Equity hosted a meeting that took place on Wednesday, June 24 at 4:00 PM, for members of the student body and faculty to continue the ongoing conversation about the Black Lives Matter Protests, intersectionality, and current events surrounding these topics. The conversation included a look into what we as a community can do to educate and be more equitable, as well as giving students a space to process in a meaningful way.

Campus Preparations

The facilities crew has been hard at work since early March on safety and cleaning efforts to prepare the campus for the return of students.  Preparations have included:

• cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces
• deep cleaning and disinfecting of all chairs and desks
• deep cleaning of carpets and upholstered furniture
• installation of touchless faucets and toilets
• safety sign installation
• classroom set-up changes to allow for social distancing
• reorganizing of public spaces
• installing hand sanitizing stations
• reorganizing pathways for one-way only traffic