03/26/20 - Alumni COVID 19 Update

Dear Cranbrook Kingswood Alumni,
 
Honoring your affection for this singular place and exceptional community, I write to let you know how Cranbrook Schools is navigating these unprecedented times as COVID-19 has manifested locally in Michigan.
 
Cranbrook Schools continues to move forward thoughtfully and stalwartly, with the health and wellbeing of our community – and the wider community – as our highest priority.
 
  • Rest assured that Cranbrook Schools has a standing Pandemic Plan which guides our decision-making . As a part of this plan, the Schools’ Pandemic Care Team – which includes our nurses, key school administrators and colleagues from the Cranbrook Educational Community – has been meeting regularly since the COVID-19 outbreak was first detected. Through this team, we make decisions that prioritize the wellbeing of our students and teachers and are coordinated with all entities on Cranbrook’s campus.
 
At Cranbrook, we anticipated this possible turn of events and since late January have been preparing to move our classes, at all divisions, online as soon as we felt it was prudent to do so. For a program as large as ours this is no small feat. We have dubbed our approach to global distance learning CK Online and all Cranbrook’s teachers have worked diligently to connect meaningfully with their students through digital means, no matter where those students are.
 
For our youngest students at Brookside this could mean a Zoom sing-along or show-and-tell; for our oldest upper schoolers this could mean peer critique of video presentations, or syllabi revamped to study the coronavirus statistics and spread. Our objective is not to replicate every aspect or the full richness of our face-to-face classes; that is impossible. Rather, with every available technology, we must creatively re-envision our academic work for a new fully digital, and remote, environment. Our faculty has been remarkably nimble, and their commitment and ingenuity are on full display, and will continue to be for as long as necessary. It is our objective to keep Cranbrook students engaged, on track with their studies, and in good stead – academically and personally – long after this crisis has subsided.
 
To that end, since January we have been keenly aware that our boarding population requires special care and attention at this time. Our Governor’s orders were issued at the start of, and during, our scheduled spring break. Thankfully, this gave us an opportunity to make sustainable contingency plans and all of our 250 upper school boarders are either home with their families or in secure long-term stateside home-stays. These students, too, will access CK Online for as long as need be and, because nurturing and supporting Cranbrook’s diverse, multi-national community is integral to our comprehensive educational mission, we are committed to delivering instruction to all, and will make accommodations for changes in time zones across the globe.
 
Most important during this time, we must consider what our most valued commodity – community – means. How does fellowship or care, affinity or affection, wellness and wellbeing manifest itself in new ways on-line and in a socially, physically distant format? Amid the Zoom conference calls and classes via Facetime, we are drawing upon our expertise with one kind of community and investing ourselves sincerely in another. More than continued academic engagement, CK Online allows time for casual, caring touch points, advisor check-ins and supportive counseling of students during a time that is frightening and full of understandable tensions as we all hunker down. Our school counselors fill an essential role here, as does every student’s advisor, teachers and coaches.
 
Thankfully, Cranbrook as a whole always feels bigger than the sum of its many individual parts, and Cranbrook is community we take with us, no matter where we are, whether we are in close proximity or not. Our Schools community knows that our care for each other transcends a handshake or hug and extends over the distance that may separate us from one another.
 
I thank our alumni and everyone in our global Cranbrook community for support during these times. If you would like to stay abreast of the Schools announcements and resources please visit our dedicated webpage designed to keep our current students and families informed. Always we will aim high in our expectations and go forth and serve one another – near or far – with generosity of spirit, care and compassion.
 
With gratitude for our Cranbrook community and for your support,
 
 
Aimeclaire Roche
President, Cranbrook Educational Community
Back