Survey Says: An Amazing Start to 2020-2021 at Eastern Christian School

Months of planning went into reopening Eastern Christian School this year. Since the start of the 2020-2021 school year was always destined to be unique in the climate of a global pandemic, we wanted to make sure that we did our due diligence to ensure for the health and safety of our students, families, faculty, staff, and administration- in both on campus and remote learning environments. 

While the school year has gotten off to a great start from the perspective of school leadership, we wanted to know what EC families think about the year so far. So we sent out “First Week of School Family Feedback” surveys to all of our families. Based on your responses, we’re proud to share that we are indeed off to an amazing start. 

Some eye popping numbers from the survey responses include:

• 155 EC families of in-person students and 46 families of remote students participated in this survey
• 98.7% of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that health and safety protocols are being followed by staff (89.7% by students).
• 92.3% of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement, “My child’s social, emotional, and spiritual needs have been supported in the transition back to school.”
• 94.2% of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the statement, “My child’s learning needs have been supported in the transition back to school.”
• Parents also really liked the new drop off/pick up procedures (96.8%)

A few parent comments in particular that we really took to heart include:

• “We couldn’t be happier with Eastern Christian School and all the hard work that was put into having our kids back to school.”
• “[Our daughter] reported that she feels very safe in school.”
• “It’s good to see [Our daughter] back in an environment where she thrives. Thanks for everyone’s hard work!” 
• “My kids mental and emotional health has soared since coming back to school. Singing, skipping and dancing out the door. So happy to be back!” 
• “Yes [our son] is very happy to be back and is enjoying his first week back at school. Personally, I didn’t like school when I was in grade school. I’m glad he is in a place where he is comfortable and enjoys himself while enriching his spirit and mind.”

Just as we put significant effort into starting strong, we can always get better and we are committed to learning and improving. 

A few areas that we will seek to improve based on EC parent feedback include:

• In-person learning: 
  • Ongoing commitment to help students self-monitor healthy practices including social distancing, handwashing and masking. 
  • Changes to our food service logistics in order to provide better food selection and ease of use.
  • Development of new weekly communication from our nursing staff to respond to health related questions and concerns that EC parents have expressed.
• Remote learning:
  • Working out the technical bugs
  • Identifying and implementing ways to keep our remote learners included in the classroom community. 

Thanks, prayers for continued commitment, and daily bread

We wanted to again thank our amazing faculty and staff. They always go above and beyond, but this year, they are going “Beyond beyond.” The amount of planning, flexibility, creativity, and just good old fashioned work ethic that our team is putting into this school year is truly remarkable. We can all be grateful for such an amazing group of dedicated educators who love the Lord, their subject area, and their students. 

Thank you to our parents for your continued partnership in our mission of engaging the mind, nurturing the spirit, and transforming the world one student at a time! We ask that you continue to keep our entire school community in your prayers as we seek to sustain this positive momentum throughout the entire school year. 

One of the silver linings of planning in a pandemic is that we are regularly reminded to pray for “Daily bread.” Every day that comes and goes, we will praise the Lord for his goodness and mercy to our school family. We ask that you join us in this continued prayer for Eastern Christian Schools’ daily bread. We also ask that you remain vigilant in your commitment to following the health standards so that we can continue in this current format for, Lord willing, the entire school year!