April 17, 2020
Dear Shady Side Families,
Last Friday, Senior School administrators and I led a Zoom meeting with roughly 40 members of the senior class dedicated to generating ideas for how we can come together and honor the Class of 2020. As the meeting began, a fellow administrator mentioned that one of the participating seniors was celebrating her 18th birthday. With great spirit and best of intentions, I suggested we sing "Happy Birthday" to her.
The familiar ditty was sung sincerely (off-key!) and with great feeling, but technical glitches, an audio lag, and the "Zoominess"of it all brought everything to a clumsy, uneven end. Some of the kids bailed after just a few notes, figuring they would allow the adults to carry the sweet but awkward endeavor across the finish line.
That experience brought to light for me the imbalance we all feel as so much in our lives has become jumbled and rearranged. We do our jobs at the dining room table, our kids have classes in their bedrooms, and we are forced to huddle around iPad screens for virtual social gatherings with family and friends. Factor in the added uncertainty about when all of this might come to end, and, well, we all have a lot of emotions to manage.
Each of us is experiencing loss – whether a proper birthday celebration, a sports season, a concert performance, a favorite springtime assembly, or simply enjoying everyday exchanges with fellow parents in the carpool line. There are many who suggest such losses will ultimately serve to affirm and improve our social cohesion. What a wonderfully ironic payoff that would be! As I think about that cumbersome Zoom birthday song, however, it does seem that so many of our attempts to connect these days result in a measure of aggravation and disappointment – sometimes only heightening our sense of loss.
As we reflect on both our sense of loss and the value of our Shady Side community, I'm happy to share that the Academy is issuing refunds and billing adjustments to families for all auxiliary activities and programs originally slated for April and May 2020. These include things like transportation, after school programs, student trips, and room and board fees for boarding students. We are electing to do this out of a proactive sense of fairness and a commitment to supporting our families through this difficult time. Our Business and Auxiliary Programs offices will be reaching out to all impacted families next week regarding their specific accounts. If you have any questions regarding your family's account, please contact your point person in these offices next week.
I wish all of you a good weekend full of affirming connections, regardless of how clumsy and cumbersome they might be!
Best,
Bart Griffith '93
President