Dear Beit Rabban Parents, We are looking forward to seeing you this evening at the parent town hall scheduled for 8PM EST on the Beit Rabban community meeting room . As always, this session will be recorded and shared. In advance of tonight's town hall, we are delighted to share some important updates, including space and schedule updates among others. In the coming weeks, you can expect further details with respect to health policies as our COVID Advisory Committee continues to work with us as well as within their own medical networks to flesh out all relevant protocols. In the meantime, please make sure that your family is prepared to return to school in person the week of September 2nd when each student will attend a personal classroom visit. To this end, please make sure you are taking appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-10 and quarantining for at least 14 days after returning from any of the states listed within the New York State guidelines . Our decisions in the weeks leading up to school and thereafter will impact each other more than ever. We are counting on each other to be a caring community that understands how deeply intertwined we all are.  Sending love to your families and virtual hugs to your children! Stephanie

Family Logistics Survey #2 Please complete this form to the best of your ability by Thursday, July 30.

Family Logistics Survey

Space: Two Locations for 2020-21 As you know, we have had to make changes to our space to meet square feet standards per student. To this end, we will be keeping between three and four classes at 15 West 86 Street, preschool through either Kindergarten or First Grade. We are delighted to announce our second location at Kehillat Romemu, at the corner of 105th St. and Amsterdam Ave., where our first/second through seventh grade classes will be located. We are renting this full four story building that includes significant outdoor space on the roof to accommodate either recess or additional outdoor teaching time. Each classroom has ample square footage to meet a 36 square feet per student standard as well as proper ventilation and windows. Please note that neither of these locations will be shared with any other tenants during school hours.  Our two campuses will now be referred to as the North Campus ( הקמפוס הצפוני) on 105th Street and the South Campus ( הקמפוס הדרומי) on 86th Street.

Daily Schedule In order to minimize transmission risks by diffusing congestion during arrival and dismissal, families will divide into three different arrival/dismissal slots on each campus. Each family will be able to choose the most convenient arrival/dismissal slot when we open registration at 10AM, Sunday August 2. Registration will include specific instructions as well as reserved slots for families with complicated circumstances. For example, a family with a child in both Kevutzot and Chativah at the North Campus may have to choose a 3PM dismissal for both children. The three arrival/dismissal options are as follows on each campus: 1st Arrival/Dismissal:  Gan 8:10AM/1:40PM Kevutzot (K-4) 8:10AM/2:40PM Chativah (5-7) 8:10AM/3:00PM 2nd Arrival/Dismissal:  Gan 8:20AM/1:50PM Kevutzot (K-4) 8:20AM/2:50PM Chativah (5-7) 8:20AM/3:10PM 3rd Arrival/Dismissal Gan (K-4) 8:30AM/2:00PM Kevutzot 8:30AM/3:00PM Chativah (5-7) 8:30AM/3:20PM We will not be offering an after school program this year. However, we will be offering a “Tzaharon” after-care program run by our Gan Teacher, Yaara Ben Devorah at an additional cost of $15 a day M-TH for Gan students who have siblings in older classes with a later dismissal and/or have a parent who teaches in Kevutzot with a later dismissal. If you would like to sign up for Tzaharon, please do so on this Family Logistics Survey #2 .

Calendar Please review the updated 2020-21 School Calendar , with the caveat that this year will require a high level of flexibility from all of us in different ways. We may decide to revise the calendar as the year unfolds. In the meantime, please note the following updates to the 2020-21 School Calendar: Each class will have an online orientation over Zoom with their teachers the week of August 25th. Dates and times for these orientations will be shared on August 2nd. New students will also have a personal Zoom call with their teachers the week of August 25th.  Students in all grades will visit their classrooms the week of September 2nd. These visits will be scheduled by family, and we ask parents to join. Registration for classroom visits will be open as of August 2 at 10AM. Gan classes will have a virtual park meet up the week of September 2nd. This schedule will be shared on August 2nd. School will start on Tuesday, September 8, not Wednesday, September 9 for all grades. Recognizing the unusual character of this year’s return to school, we are committed to ensuring a responsible transition for all of our students, both physically and emotionally. To this end, we are implementing a staggered start schedule in all grades for the first week of school. This schedule will be shared August 2.

Transportation Unfortunately, New York City’s Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) has yet to share any plans with respect to its 2020-21 offerings. We have looked into arranging private busing without success as bus companies are planning to function at percentage capacity and do not have sufficient fleets to take on any new routes. While we hope that OPT will be up and functioning for all students who are entitled to busing (grades K-7), we encourage you to make alternative arrangements for your child. Please let us know in this Family Logistics Survey #2 what you are planning in terms of transportation.

Gan Distance Learning Periods: Tuition Adjustments We understand that Gan parents remain particularly concerned about the possibility of distance learning for their children and families. We are also in the process of refining our Gan Ba’Anan program and will have more to share in the months to come. As of now, we can share a few updates that we hope are helpful and reassuring to Gan families: Program: If schools are required to close, we will offer a distance learning program for all Gan students that is both flexible and spans almost the full in-person school day. Tuition: Tuition will not be adjusted for the first four weeks of Gan Ba’Anan. Thereafter, each family may choose between two adjusted tuition/program options: Option A: Participate in Gan Ba’Anan program and pay 65% of tuition (net tuition). The remaining 35% of tuition can either (a) be transformed into a tax deductible donation to the school or (b) be credited toward the 2021-22 tuition. Option B: Decline to participate in the Gan Ba’Anan program and pay 30% of tuition. The remaining 70% of tuition can either (a) be transformed into a tax deductible donation to the school or (b) be credited toward the 2021-22 tuition. These adjusted tuition options allow us to retain our phenomenal Gan teachers during distance learning who will continue to educate your children and provide an emotional anchor to them during periods of distance learning periods. These options also ensure that our Gan teachers will still be there to welcome back your children when we are able to return to in-person school. Please let us know on this Family Logistics Survey #2 whether you would be inclined to participate in the Gan Ba’Anan program in the event of distance learning.

Student “Zoomers” We understand that there will be students who cannot attend school in person this year due to the pandemic, and we are committed to serving each of these students as they deserve and continuing to steward their intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth even when they cannot be in physical classrooms. To this end, our education team is working to develop a “Zoomers” program that will combine elements of learning within their full class via remote technology, learning in pairs with other students who are either in person or Zoomers, learning offline, and learning directly with teachers and other Zoomers in their grade. In order to properly prepare for the Zoomers program, we need to know whether your child/children will not be attending school in person in September. Please let us know immediately in this Family Logistics Survey #2 . We understand that circumstances may change over the course of the year that may allow a Zoomer to return to the in-person classroom and or require a student attending school in-person to become a Zoomer, no family will be held to this decision but we do need to communicate regularly for planning purposes.

Summer Touch Points Join our daily Gan Tefillah at 9:30AM through the end of July on the Beit Rabban community meeting room. Parent Town Halls Town Hall #1 Wednesday, July 22 8:00-9:00PM Town Hall #2 Monday Evening, August 10 8:00PM Tuesday Morning, August 11 9:00AM DATE CHANGE: Town Hall #3: Thursday Evening, August 27 8:00PM