Weekly Message from Head of School 2022/11/20-2022/11/26

"Wisdom comes with winters.” 

- Oscar Wilde

Dear Keystone Community, 

This week we are all navigating the complexity of the changing pandemic context in Beijing. We are so fortunate to be able to have the resources (technological, and human) to continue to serve our students' learning and well-being in this situation. We also know that parents and family shoulder even more when our students are forced to learn at home. Whatever your role, I am sending my warm thoughts to each of you tonight.

Although we have all been living with the pandemic in one way going on three years now, this is the first time that the disease itself is not a hypothetical or distant risk. It feels important to name this so that we understand our emotions that come along with this time.

In a brief passing conversation with a student this week, he likened COVID to a "ghost", and one to whom our relationship and proximity is shifting. A ghost is mysterious, scary and dangerous, because you don't know exactly what it is. But COVID is no longer a distant ghost. We are fortunate that the medical community has been working at a furious pace for years now to ensure we know as much as we can about this virus. We have vaccines, and treatments, and reliable and regular testing and we know how to prevent and minimize transmission.

This virus is not a ghost anymore. And, given the community spread that Beijing is experiencing right now, it is no longer something in the distance. COVID is present in our communities. If we don't already, we will know people who test positive and are close contacts. Oscar Wilde tells us that "wisdom comes with winters." Winters here could be read to mean hard times, or years spent building and accumulating knowledge. With respect to this virus, we have both; we have the strength built through challenging times, and the wisdom and knowledge to know how to respond. As a school, we will keep moving forward carefully, but not afraid, with our students and their learning and well-being firmly at the center of our actions.

Warmly,

Emily McCarren