Forward. Together.

A Letter from Our Head of School

Dear WSP Families,

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Three days later, Governor Wolf mandated that all K–12 Pennsylvania schools close effective Monday, March 16, 2020. Teachers and administration held our first Materials Pick Up Day, and WSP was among the first of all schools in the City to start virtual classes on Wednesday, March 18, 2020.

Yesterday — exactly one year later — WSP’s first round of teachers began getting vaccinated as Pennsylvania prioritized the allocation of the J&J vaccine for PreK–12 educators and school support staff.

What a year this has been. Without knowing what would lie ahead for us, every day for the last year, we found our balance and courage to move forward together. As I watched the fourth graders practice using stilts this week, I thought of the balance we have struggled to find during this exhausting year and those small steps forward we continued to take.

The Buttercup and Sunflower Kindergarten children held their Spring Movement Journey outdoors this week showing not only how they could step but skip, bunny hop, crawl, and run. On the bridge (a seesaw), there was a moment at the top when most of the children hesitated, knowing the next step would shift the weight of the board. One at a time, the children gathered courage and centered themselves to remain balanced as they moved into the unknown of making their way down the board to the other side of the bridge.

We, too, need to remain balanced as we make our way over this bridge in the pandemic. It will take time, our steps will need to be small and measured, but we look forward to being able to skip and hop and even run.

With balance as we move forward together,

Kirsten Christopherson-Clark

Head of School