September 5, 2020: Golestan was granted a waiver to reopen in-person elementary school!
In March 2020, Golestan temporarily transitioned to distance learning during the Shelter in Place. Our preschool and summer camp programs returned to our beautiful campus on June 22, 2020. Elementary school reopened on time in September.
All classes are either entirely outdoors or in indoor/outdoor classrooms, with fresh air blowing at all times.
To read our COVID-19 Prevention Plan, click here.
COVID-19 School Guidance Checklist
This is a living document which will continue to evolve throughout the year.
All educators developing their own prevention plans and protocols are welcome to use any portion of this document.
We were granted a waiver from our county to operate our elementary school in our outdoor classrooms on campus this fall/winter.
While running a school in the middle of a global pandemic is not without its challenges, it has been a joy to be together in person since September.
Golestan is committed to creating a safe physical space for our staff and students to attend school this year. In the unlikely event the county no longer allows us to operate in person, we will transition to a rich and robust distance learning program*. Until then, we plan to continue to accommodate all our students at our beautiful school, thanks to an 18,000 square foot campus for just six classes on nearly two acres.
*In the unlikely even that the county requires us to shut down in-person operations, we will seamlessly transition to a robust distance learning program which supports learning in the following areas: literacy, math, social studies, cooking, garden, physical education, languages and of course, deep personal connection with friends and teachers.
Some of our distance learning includes activities on campus such as gardening, in safe isolation with families signing up so as not to overlap on campus. This gets kids out of the house, moving their bodies, and engaging with nature in meaningful ways that support their academic learning, despite the isolation quarantine imposes on children. We hope we won’t need to move all programming online, but if we do, we will be ready.
We are living in strange times. In the spring of 2020, our beloved garden of flowers was quiet for three months. The birds were chirping and the bees were buzzing, but the joyful sounds of children and their teachers were missing. We, as a community, made it through that quiet time – and once again, our garden of flowers was filled with laughter and joy.
If you would like your child to be a part of these special moments, we have a limited number of spots available in our elementary school for the 2020-2021 academic year.
When the Shelter-in-Place was lifted, we phased back to operating out of our beautiful campus relatively seamlessly. Our school is uniquely positioned to operate a safe school on campus during the pandemic for the following reasons:
- Large outdoor natural play/learning spaces on nearly 2 acres.
- Small classes (10-12 children/class) and low ratios (2 teachers/class).
- Large classrooms with 16ft sliding doors opening each class to its own outdoor garden. This converts indoor spaces to outdoor classrooms with ample fresh air and circulation.
- Two dedicated outdoor classrooms with sun shades and yurts.
- Many unused spaces and classrooms on our ~18,000 ft campus. Half of our space was reserved for future use in anticipation of our elementary school growth in the coming three years.
- Three dedicated full time staff in charge of cleaning our school facilities.
The Next Generation of Learning Spaces
Golestan Kids admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship, and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.