Plan the Work, Work the Plan

USN is coming to know its new normal with all Lower and Middle School students at the Edgehill Campus and student-athletes returning to competition at the River Campus this week. Next week freshmen begin High School's gradual return and familiar routines like After School and the Morning Bus resume.
Another Friday arrives, and with it a new set of milestones. Each of USN’s three Divisions, more divided by circumstance than we’d ever hope to be the case in less turbulent times, can point to significant distance traveled. The reinvented routines grow more viable by the day. And the public health numbers hover at less than half the worry thresholds (of 25 new cases daily per 100K population and 10% positivity for testing) that sent us into remote mode. The masks, the distance, the handwashing, the careful risk stratification actually pay off. Let’s hope that message proves contagious.
 
Quick summary:
 
Lower School today completes its second full day of everyone in K-4, complete with classes, enrichments, PE, recess, and lunch. They’re the beacon for us, pointing the way, so characteristically thoughtfully, adjusting and refining. They proved that families really can complete the Magnus Mobile morning health checkup reliably, obviating the need for us to squint at tiny phone screens through open car doors. And they adjusted to the short-term necessity of everyone (350 strong) arriving at pickup time without gridlocking the neighborhood—so we could offer the After School staff necessary orientation time. And on Monday, September 28, we open that lifeline for busy families, getting us back to a kind of afternoon normal.
 
Our Middle School friends finished a week of half-days, testing their pathways to classes, their seating charts, and their outdoor break times on Magnolia Lawn and down 19th Avenue on the broad field so generously provided for our responsible use by the General Board of our Methodist neighbors. Each grade is establishing its own rhythm, guided by remarkable faculty who know what's right to ask of their charges. No effort has been spared in preparation for Monday's return to full days and a familiar MS daily schedule and a choreographed, chaperoned lunchtime diaspora, preferably outdoors but under our roof as needed. And how about its own version of mass dismissal, powered by shared Google Docs, radios, multiple crossing guards? After School's opening Monday, September 28 will be a big hit in MS too, moved to the Gordon Wing hallways.
 
And our High School saw seniors painting T-shirts at the River Campus Sunday, September 20, athletic teams resuming safety-first interscholastic competition on those same fields Tuesday, September 22, and ninth graders coming back in 16-student groups through the week to learn/remember their way through the building. Every HS room has a posted occupant capacity number on the door. Tuesday, September 29, those freshmen will experience their remote schedule from campus. Then on Thursday, October 1, they'll be joined by 10th graders. Then  Monday, October 5, the 11th graders come to campus, making room for seniors to crown our return on Monday, October 12. Of special interest to me is the community pledge our HS students are developing for themselves—we'll count on them to make all these efforts a success.
 
That’s the K-12 return update, in all its step by step detail. Supplementing those plans will be the return of morning shuttle routes Monday, September 28, with wide-open bus windows, one seat per child, and pre-ride health checks. Also look at this lunch signup, ordering a week in advance and box delivery at designated Divisional drop spots, through our longtime friends at SAGE Dining. Past that, conversations continue about getting the pooled saliva testing launched—believe me, the minute I know, you'll know. And I'll keep updating just as promised, every week.
 
If you'd like a peek at what we've been doing, here's a sincere (if amateurish) effort that I shared Tuesday, September 22 for the familiar coffee session. At this point, all the locations and mitigations have become second nature to me, but my guess is you may find this walkabout worth a watch. While you're still reading, let me share word that on next Tuesday’s Zoom, Director of  Diversity and Community Life Office Roderick White will offer updates on our diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. There's so much to do, and there are so many reasons to be dedicated for the long haul. 
 
Maybe most meaningful to me lately have been regular, unsolicited inquiries about how best to help guarantee the USN community's health and safety, situation by situation, consistent with the understanding that my choices affect you and yours affect me. If we keep that awareness top of mind and realize, in our bones, the difference that each of us can make, and if we keep those lines of communication open, there may be some real reason for optimism about what we can accomplish. Thanks, once more.
 
Time for a flu shot,
Director
 
 
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Edgehill Campus
2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212

Phone:  615-321-8000
Fax:       615-321-0889 
Email:    info@usn.org

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1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218

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USN Mission: 
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.