A Message from Mr. Anderson: Adapt & Overcome
Dear Members of the Ridgeview Community,
It would be cliché to say that these are trying times: it is likely that we are all finding our way through a situation that we have neither encountered nor contemplated before. For some, this moment in history may bring the blessing of more time with family, but for many more, it will likely mean insecurity, hardship, and anxiety. For a few already, it may mean the illness or even loss of a family member or close friend. Add to these alterations to our routines the suspension of school, closed shops, scarcity of goods, and stretched budgets, and it can all seem dreadfully overwhelming.
As you have likely seen, Governor Polis has elected to close schools through at least April 17. Based upon the information available from world, federal, state, county, and municipal health authorities, this is a prudent decision. It is likely, however, that we can expect the suspension of schooling to last longer, perhaps significantly longer. At Ridgeview, we are planning for all contingencies in order to ensure that we can support our students and our families in the best way that circumstances will allow.
It is important to note that it is emphatically not the case that a classical, liberal arts education is best delivered online. A part of what makes a Ridgeview education so rich and powerful is its intimacy: the ability to interact and connect with a student in person, over time, to evaluate and react to his character and intellect, and to provide what is needed based upon what he has and is prepared to receive. That is a difficult thing. It is possibly an impossible thing to do via telelearning. Nevertheless, we have not chosen our circumstances. We are permitted a choice only in how we choose to respond to them.
Despite the squabbling of our politicians, the health authorities have concurred on this: flattening the curve in something like the way South Korea has will save many lives. It is the pursuit of this goal that has so upended our economy and disrupted our lives. Achieving this objective depends upon the willingness of individuals to act with a regard for a collective outcome. It is not that this kind of behavior is entirely foreign to Americans, but in our celebration of the individual, it is not our accustomed way of understanding our place in the world.
While I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy the remainder of Spring Break, which for the students will last a week longer than originally scheduled, please look for e-mails from each of your children’s teachers beginning next week. Ridgeview will use this time to finalize our teacher’s plans to carry on with our academic program using a bevy of online tools that we hope will keep all of us engaged as we do we our part in slowing the spread of this disease. In the coming weeks, our motto will be apta superaque—adapt and overcome. Learning will continue. Growth will continue. Life will continue. We will face this situation together, and with patience, imagination, and good will. We will persevere. We will overcome.
I look forward to continuing an online version of what we have all begun together in person, and I look forward even more to the day that we can set aside these impersonal necessities and sit across from one another to resume our lives, passions, and lifelong educations.
Respectfully,
Derek Anderson, Principal
Ridgeview Classical Schools
