How Can Schools Use Design and Futures Thinking in this Unique Moment? Part 2

Letter Two — This is the second letter in a series between two educators, Ariel Raz a designer at the Stanford d.school, and Richard Boerner, Superintendent of Graded — The American School of São Paulo.

Dear Ariel,

During the 15 years I have been working overseas, my travel home this summer was by far the most bizarre and unsettling. My break will be short, as I will return to Brazil within the next two weeks to begin the 2020–21 school year in the most unique way — from a distance.

For us in Brazil, the pandemic arrived swiftly and hit aggressively. Our campus doors closed on March 13, and we remained in distance learning mode until June 10, at which time we concluded our school year.

I must confess that responding to the pandemic while leading an international school was one of the, if not the, most challenging professional experiences of my life. Living with ambiguity is unsettling. Sometimes school leaders are described as “town mayors” and when in doubt, people want answers. Moving so quickly to distance learning required our teachers to be incredibly nimble and flexible. Soon after our distance learning launch, I began to pivot my thinking to the future — to August and the opening of a new school year. Questions that immediately came to mind were:

• How would we design learning when we could not predict the modality in which we would be operating?
• In what ways could we ensure the best learning experience for students while mitigating the risk of viral transmission?
• What actions and measures would we need to take, in the midst of a pandemic, to ensure our community the confidence to send their children to school for in-person learning?

As Graded began to face this looming reality, we needed a way to bring clarity, objectivity, and process to our thinking and decision-making. For the last few years, Graded has, fortuitously, been deeply embedding design thinking into our operational structure.

We started on a macro level by formulating assumptions about the future and making bets as to what the months ahead might hold. We then used that thinking to help us design various scenarios in response to potential conditions we might face. We considered student schedules, course offerings, transportation, internal and external learning spaces, health and safety, cleaning protocols, lunch experience, and student movement throughout campus. This design/futures thinking experience offered us several pathways, which ultimately allowed us to prepare multiple deployable solutions.

As we conducted our design experience and tackled specific COVID-related challenges, we reached out to our stakeholders. By assembling a short-term faculty task force, engaging our Board of Directors, and holding parent information sessions, we built confidence, understanding, and community. Trust during moments of disruption is key.

Our reopening plan, Eagles Reunite, prioritizes the health and wellbeing of our students and faculty, while allowing for an optimal learning experience.

We will prioritize student, faculty, and staff health, safety, and well-being over all other objectives:

• By establishing and promoting practices and policies that reduce the risk of viral transmission and enable us to be responsive and agile when facing evolving health circumstances.
• By ensuring hygiene- and health-related policies are research-based, effectively implemented, clearly communicated, and diligently enforced.

We will emphasize student learning and the integrity of faculty instruction:

• By providing as much face-to-face instruction as is safe.
• By conducting full-day in-person instruction with physical distancing when it is safe.
• By ensuring that the social and emotional needs of students and teachers are met.
• By providing the greatest level of instructional consistency between in-person and distance learning modes.

Ariel, it seems to me that inequity is further heightened as we engage in in remote learning. I am curious how the issues we are facing in Brazil are being seen in context to those in the United States. In what ways are you deploying design and futures thinking to help remedy the ambiguity schools around the world are facing? In what ways are you designing for equity as these schools plan for reopening?

Be well and stay safe my friend.

Richard Boerner