Dear Brooklyn Nature Days Families,
We have been fielding concerns from families and staff members regarding safely operating our winter session during the current rise in COVID numbers in New York City. Simultaneously, we have spent the holiday break monitoring the rise of COVID cases in the city, following the information coming from state and city officials, deciphering what another city shutdown would mean for our program, and discussing multiple scenarios of how to safely run our program during the upcoming winter session.
After much deliberation, it is with a collective heavy heart that we have decided to cancel our Winter 2021 session. This was a difficult decision to make but unfortunately, due to the increase in COVID cases and the strong possibility of increased restrictions in NYC, we feel this decision is best for the health and safety of our Brooklyn Nature Days community as a whole.
This means that as of now, all Winter 2021 programming as it was originally planned is canceled and teachers have been temporarily furloughed. We had a Zoom meeting with our teachers early this morning to discuss the temporary closure. Part-time teachers will be eligible for unemployment and full-time teachers will be offered part-time administrative work with us as well as partial unemployment benefits and medical insurance stipend. These benefits, along with the enhanced pandemic relief benefits, will ensure our staff receives funds comparable to what they would be receiving while working in the park with us. We are hopeful the time will come later this winter that we can safely and sustainably resume classes and will then offer a winter mini-session which will be available to all interested families who were enrolled in our original winter 2021 semester. Any decision regarding a winter mini-session will be based on testing numbers, medical and scientific recommendations, and other intelligence from health officials.
While outdoor programs are low-risk with regards to transmission, we all have families, partners, and housemates that work and spend time in various places in the city. While we understand everyone is being as cautious as they can, exposure is inevitably going to affect our classes as infection rates continue to rise. Additionally, although Brooklyn Nature Days’s classes are all outdoors, our program is still subject to the same protocols as an indoor program. This means shutting down any groups affected by suspected or confirmed exposure to COVID for 10-14 days. During the fall, when infection rates were as low as 3% it became a challenge to staff our classes, despite having a set of support teachers on hand to fill in at each drop off location in the event of an absence. We must maintain the teacher-to-student ratios as regulated by the city (and promised to families and staff). Therefore, we can never run classes without sufficient staffing in place. Our teachers are unable to conduct classes remotely as online learning is antithetical to our mission as an all outdoor, nature immersion program.
We know that for many families, our classes have been a much-needed bright spot in an impossible year. While it is important to us to provide consistency for all of our students, the past 9 months has forced us to make some extremely difficult choices in order to prioritize health and safety. As much as we want to be out there in the park exploring with your children, the unfortunate reality is that, with COVID numbers on the rise as well as the difficulties related to navigating so many potential exposures with children, families, and staff--it is unsustainable and unsafe for our classes to continue at this time.
Families can expect to receive an email tomorrow with a form to submit their preference for a refund or credit for the winter 2021 session. Please fill out the form and submit your preference by Monday, January 11th, 2021 so that we can begin the process of fulfilling requests. Any request received after Monday, January 11th, 2021 will automatically be processed as a credit to be used towards the spring, summer, or fall 2021 sessions only, so please be sure to submit before the due date.
Our spring session is not affected at this time and we are optimistic that it will run as planned.
With unending gratitude and the hope that we will see you all this later this winter
-Sarah, Lilly, & Susannah