An Update from the PGIA - Moving Forward with Distance Learning

Dear PGIA Families,

Hoping you are well amidst the recent difficult circumstances. As we all grapple with the dynamically changing health situation in the world today, we want to keep our lines of communication open with you to ensure you feel confident about your student’s safety, as well as learning plans at the Peter Gruber International Academy. As you know, our school has taken a very proactive stance of closing down temporarily due to coronavirus.

As PGIA Director, I simply wanted to reach out to you. Unfortunately, I am in the states for a family emergency, and find myself away from the PGIA during this very difficult time. As you will read below, the very capable leadership team of the PGIA will ensure that all decisions and actions moving forward are purposeful and well researched. I wish to thank the PGIA faculty for their diligence and commitment during this time.

In light of VIMSIA’s closure, we wish to inform you of our plans and expectations for the coming week and beyond. First, please know how proud we are of our PGIA students, all of whom stayed calm and focused throughout the school day on Friday 3/13/20. Further, we commend them for performing their Taste the Nations dance routines for an audience of Montessori students to provide a fun, colorful, and relaxing show as we departed school.

As we expressed to students during a pre-performance assembly, the most important aspect of their education moving forward will be strong and effective communication. On Friday, each PGIA student in attendance verified their ability to access the four main technological platforms we currently use: GMail, ManageBac, IXL, and Typesy. Students also completed a brief survey regarding internet connectivity at home and their thoughts on potential obstacles, and the corresponding solutions, to at-home learning. We will use this information to help inform our development and deployment of a Distance Learning program, which will officially begin after spring break on Monday, March 30.

However, as communicated to students on Friday, all PGIA students are expected to complete and submit all work posted to ManageBac throughout the week of Monday, March 16 to Friday, March 20. For the coming week, it is expected that students will routinely check email and reference ManageBac as they work on assignments. Each teacher will send a class-specific email by midday Monday 3/16 to formally announce what is expected throughout the week, all of which will also be posted to ManageBac. ManageBac will remain a center for information pertaining to student activities and assignments throughout our time apart. If you have any issues logging into or accessing information on the ManageBac Parent Dashboard, please reach out to us immediately.

We will continue updating the PGIA community throughout the coming week and we expect to share plans for our Distance Learning program by Friday, March 20. Until then, please reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns to the MYP and DP Coordinators, Alex Silva (asilva@vimsia.org) and Matt Stocking (matthew.stocking@vimsia.org).

Finally, we remind you that Ms. Kaffenbarger, VIMSIA’s school counselor, is available to students and parents to help process the coming changes and we encourage everyone to contact her as needed (skaffenbarger@vimsia.org). You can also consider taking a moment to read this article from Psychology Today that offers ideas and words around how to speak to our children about this topic.  It is broken down into ages and I found it to be very helpful, from a parent perspective. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smart-parenting-smarter-kids/202003/how-talk-kids-and-teens-about-the-coronavirus

The VIMSIA community is strong and so are the people of the Virgin Islands, as we are no strangers to emergencies. We are confident that with these proactive measures, we will be better as a whole once this is all over.

Please stay in touch and let us know if we can do anything at all for you.

Sincerely,

Gloria Arpasi, PGIA Director
garpasi@vimsia.org

340-998-6353