COVID-19 has injected uncertainty into every crevice of our lives. At NCRC, we know that when it comes to our children, there is very little room for that kind of uncertainty. 

James Carroll as Head of School, the NCRC faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and Preparedness Task Force are doing everything within our power to welcome students, families, faculty and staff back to the schoolhouse as soon as it is deemed safe to do so.

But while we want to assure you of our commitment to maximize every possible opportunity for safe in-person learning in the next school year, we must also be sure to communicate clearly and transparently about everything related to COVID-19, both those things that we as a school can control, and those things over which we as a community are, frankly, powerless.

In all of our planning, we are prioritizing three core objectives:

• Strict adherence to protocols and procedures to keep our students, families, faculty and staff healthy and safe;

• Ensuring we deliver on the promise of a play-based education experience in line with the values of NCRC for all of our children; and

• Supporting all of our families to the greatest extent possible throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

We aim to answer the frequently asked questions below as clearly and transparently as is possible in the rapidly evolving environment that this global pandemic has created for all of us.

• If you have additional questions that are not addressed here, please reach out to James Carroll directly.
• If you have any questions regarding the work of NCRC's Preparedness Task Force, please reach out to Mary Farmer or Eric Fish.
• If you have questions about the role or work of NCRC's Board of Trustees during this time, please be in touch with NCRC's Board Chair, Robert Crawford.
• If you are experiencing unanticipated financial distress as a result of the drastic economic impact of COVID-19, and would like to apply for tuition assistance, please in touch with NCRC's Director of Admissions & Enrollment Management, Janet Carter.
• If you or your family are experiencing loss, anxiety or are just in need of additional support, please reach out to NCRC's School Counselor, Judith Wides.
• If you're looking for a way to support NCRC at this challenging and uncertain time, please consider reaching out to NCRC's Director of Advancement, Brian O'Malley.

The annual June 1 binding date for contracts is set to allow adequate time to finalize staffing, hiring, and operational plans for the coming school year. Given the numerous scenarios currently being considered for next year, this work will be significantly more time intensive than it has been in prior years. Additionally, the confirmation of enrollment numbers that will come following the binding date will be critical information in our pursuit of scenario planning for the coming year.

While June 1 is a date that is set across all schools that are members of The Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, we are aware that certain independent schools in the Greater Washington area have moved this date. 

We understand the pressures that our families feel in needing to meet this deadline. After carefully considering the viability of shifting this date and what it would do to our ability to be fully operational and maximize all potential in-person learning opportunities come September, we have decided to shift the contract binding deadline to June 15^th for all families for the 2020/2021 school year.

In light of the contract binding date extension to June 15^th, tuition payment due-date schedules have been similarly adjusted. You can review your new payment schedule through your FACTS account.

James Carroll as Head of School, the NCRC faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and Preparedness Task Force are doing everything within our power to welcome students, families, faculty and staff back to the schoolhouse as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. However, just like every school in the DMV, NCRC will not be in a position to act unilaterally on this front.

Since this public health crisis began, we have continued to follow rapidly evolving guidance from the CDC, WHO and local authorities in the DMV. Given the nature of this pandemic, we anticipate that operational status and guidelines for the reopening of schools may continue to shift in the coming weeks and months. As such, the school is preparing for numerous scenarios intended to maximize in-person learning opportunities for all of our children in a safe environment, taking into consideration all available guidance.

Any physical reopening of the school is contingent upon our ability to meet the guidelines issued first and foremost by our local authorities. James Carroll as Head of School, the NCRC faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and Preparedness Task Force are doing everything within our power to welcome students, families, faculty and staff back to the schoolhouse as soon as it is deemed safe to do so, just like every school in the DMV.

The Preparedness Task Force is working daily to prepare all potential scenarios for the 2020/2021 school year. Our commitment is to release an initial framework for these scenarios and how NCRC will be providing programming by June 10^th.

Since this public health crisis began, we have continued to follow rapidly evolving guidance from the CDC, WHO and local authorities in the DMV. Any physical reopening of the school is contingent upon our ability to meet the guidelines issued first and foremost by our local authorities. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser recently released stringent guidelines for school reopening, which we are reviewing carefully.

James Carroll as Head of School, the NCRC faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and Preparedness Task Force are doing everything within our power to welcome students, families, faculty and staff back to the schoolhouse as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. However, just like every school in the DMV, NCRC will not be in a position to act unilaterally on this front.

James Carroll as Head of School, the NCRC faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and Preparedness Task Force are working to do everything possible to ensure that any family who wants to be a part of this community can be welcomed onto the porch in September – be it in person or virtually. In scenario planning, the Task Force is looking for every possible way to maximize in-person learning opportunities for all children currently enrolled in the school. To that end, we are:

• pursuing the potential acquisition of additional classroom space to meet criteria related to reduction in class sizes while maintaining current enrollment;
• considering how existing spaces within the schoolhouse and on its grounds could be used for in-person learning; and
• identifying opportunities to deploy rotating schedules for classes.

Our top priority for next year will be ensuring the health and safety of all students and their families, as well as staff and faculty. When COVID-19 was first identified as a global pandemic in March of this year, the school began to plan for what would be required for a physical reopening of the schoolhouse. At that time, NCRC operations staff began the process of procuring all of the equipment and materials necessary to ensure a safe and clean environment for all children, faculty and staff. While the CDC is currently recommending that facilities have three months of these supplies on hand at any one time, NCRC is in the process of procuring six months’ worth of materials including masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant, among other things.

Our top priority for next year will be ensuring the health and safety of all students and their families, as well as staff and faculty. We are currently reviewing all available guidance on health and safety protocols and procedures that we will need to put in place for the coming school year. We anticipate enhanced procedures on numerous fronts, including:

• Cleaning of all classrooms, with special attention placed on frequently touched surfaces;
• Establishing requirements for temperature taking for students, faculty and staff;
• Ensuring access to classrooms through assigned entrances to lessen hallway traffic;
• Monitoring for respiratory symptoms in students and faculty and staff; and
• Limiting in-classroom presence to only students and their teachers.

NCRC will follow the guidance of local authorities regarding whether masks are appropriate for children to wear in an educational setting. In preparation for this potential requirement, our Child Development Team is working with teachers on content that will help to make such a requirement explainable and less threatening for children.

The Task Force is working with the NCRC teaching staff to enhance distance learning curriculum for all classes if that is once again where we find ourselves at any point in the next school year. To date, our teachers have made admirable strides accounting for every possible need that an inclusive school with a diverse community may have. They’ve been mindful of unique parent needs, student needs and caregiver needs and will continue to find the best ways to bring NCRC into your homes, both through synchronous learning and asynchronous content development.

As one might imagine, there is limited research available on distance learning for preschool-aged children. With three months over the summer to plan for this potential need, we will be reviewing closely all that has worked to date for every age range within the school and will continue to evolve our offering to ensure the most engaging and enjoyable experience possible for all students and their families through NCRC@Home, if necessary.

While we will be sharing more information on our evolving distance learning curriculum in the weeks and months to come, it will be based on a foundation which to date has included:

• Synchronous learning opportunities including daily class meetings, daily “specials” including music, motor, library and Spanish, weekly small group activities and regular one on ones for students with their teaching team; and
• Asynchronous content development and activity guidance through virtual learning platforms including Seesaw and Epic, both made available to all students at no cost.

We recognize the stress and anxiety that parents are under as a result of this ongoing pandemic. Whether juggling working from home with your children’s needs, navigating different distance learning schedules for multiple children or just feeling the weight of the uncertainty brought on by this unprecedented public health crisis, we want to be a support to our parents in any way possible.

In addition to the content developed by our teacher teams for asynchronous learning opportunities at home, we have made virtual learning platforms including Seesaw and Epic available to all families at no cost. We are also here to provide any parent who needs it with support securing the technology necessary to access both our synchronous and asynchronous distance learning content. 

Finally, NCRC’s School Counselor, Judith Wides, a member of the Childhood Development Team, is available to all parents for any needs they may have, whether related to their child’s learning experience, a loss they may have suffered, increased anxiety or simply someone to talk to.

As a non-profit independent school that operates without the safety net of an endowment, we do not expect to be immune to the impact of a contracting economy. Our decision to cancel Rainbow Camp this summer meant the very real loss of revenue for the school. To date we have received an increase in requests for financial support for the next school year, and we anticipate more.

In any given year, tuition revenue accounts for approximately 80% of NCRC’s operating budget. Like most non-profit independent schools, with the exception of those with an endowment, the remaining 20% comes from charitable contributions to NCRC’s Annual Fund and the annual Tuition Assistance Auction. As we look to the economic realities of the coming year, we must account for a level of financial uncertainty in these supplementary budget vehicles.

Additionally, increased health and safety protocols, procurement of exponential amounts of materials such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant, potential acquisition of additional classroom space, and potential hiring of additional faculty to allow for decreased class size will all have significant impact on the school’s operating budget. 

Financially, we have two core priorities as a school: support families in our community with increased financial assistance to the greatest extent possible; and maintain employment and full benefits for all of our committed teachers and staff, regardless of the uncertainty of the upcoming year.

The NCRC Board of Trustees has the primary responsibility to ensure that the school is fiscally sound. While we recognize the very difficult financial decisions families are making when it comes to investment in an NCRC education for their children, similarly, the school is facing difficult choices as well.

As the school continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 on revenue for the coming year, the Board must consider how a reduction in tuition would impact our ability to:

• Deliver on our aforementioned financial priorities (increased financial assistance and maintenance of employment and full compensation and benefits for all NCRC teachers and staff);
• Maintain the increased health and safety protocols required to ensure a safe environment for our children in the classroom;
• Procure additional classroom space to maximize in-person learning opportunities for all students;
• Maintain the fiscal health necessary for the school to sustain and maintain through the duration of this crisis; and
• Hire additional teachers and staff to ensure we can meet guidelines related to decreased class size.

Families enrolled in these programs will only be responsible for payment for the duration they are made available in person.

The physical closure of the schoolhouse has limited costs related to certain items like snacks and classroom materials. However, even while the school is physically closed to students and teachers, bills for heating, electricity and water must be paid. We have maintained employment and full benefits for all of our committed teachers and staff throughout this time. And we have shouldered added cost in the adoption of new technology and software to make distance learning possible for all of our students.

As a non-profit independent school that operates without the safety net of an endowment, we do not expect to be immune to the impact of a contracting economy. Our decision to cancel Rainbow Camp this summer meant the very real loss of revenue for the school. To date we have received an increase in requests for financial support for the next school year, and we anticipate more.

In any given year, tuition revenue accounts for approximately 80% of NCRC’s operating budget. Like most non-profit independent schools, with the exception of those with an endowment, the remaining 20% comes from charitable contributions to NCRC’s Annual Fund and the annual Tuition Assistance Auction. As we look to the economic realities of the coming year, we must account for a level of financial uncertainty in these supplementary budget vehicles.

Financially, we have two core priorities as a school: support families in our community with increased financial assistance to the greatest extent possible; and maintain employment and full benefits for all of our committed teachers and staff, regardless of the uncertainty of the upcoming year.

After careful consideration and review, and with the approval of the Board of Trustees, NCRC applied for and was awarded a $621,900 Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program loan, which is funded through the federal CARES Act. This funding is intended to offset a portion of anticipated revenue loss, anticipated increased need for Tuition Assistance, anticipated additional costs in health and safety protocols and the resources needed for additional procurement of PPE. This funding will be essential to allow us to continue to meet our payroll and benefit obligations to all staff and faculty throughout the coming year.

Additionally, while we are hopeful that we will be able to meet the requirements for this loan to be forgiven, loan forgiveness is not guaranteed at this time.

NCRC’s Early Beginnings and Play Pals programs have been the foundation of NCRC’s commitment to inclusion for generations.

Our talented and dedicated Child Development Team of Judith Wides, Julie Mishkin, and Lauren Dewey-Rosenfeld have continued to offer frequent, robust programming to both children and their parents throughout the closure of our physical schoolhouse.  To offer further support, the Early Beginnings programming for children and families will be continuing into the summer, throughout the month of June.

Should we be forced to close our schoolhouse at any time in the coming year, our full program of both Early Beginnings and Play Pals will continue to be offered to families as planned, even in a virtual setting if necessary. This will also include virtual home visits for individual children and their family.

Substantial planning and preparations for the breadth and logistics of this fall’s program will be formulated and finalized with the CDT during the summer, and families participating in these programs will hear from the team directly.

NCRC is committed to ensuring that all of our students are protected and provided for in this uncertain environment. If you have any unique concerns about your child’s health and safety, we ask you to share those with an NCRC faculty or staff member so that we may ensure that the needs of your child are accounted for in our planning.