I’ve written dozens of back to school pieces over the decades, but this year, this crazy, crazy year, I really don’t even know where to begin.
Monday morning bright and early on the way to the office three Forest City School buses crossed in front of me as I waited for the traffic light to change at the intersection of Hwy. 80 and Hillsboro. Two of the drivers had on face masks and the third a face mask and face shield. Who would have ever thought we would see sights like these in our lifetimes?
Two of the buses appeared to be empty and the third, I think, had a couple of people on board, but my mind was on the face shield and the big yellow blur was gone in a flash. It really is back to school time, I told myself, but boy oh boy is it going to be different this year.
The Mississippi Department of Education sent out a link last week to a spreadsheet that shows all the different plans the schools around the state submitted in preparation for the start of school. They are varied, and detailed, and then not so much on others. I do not envy the teachers, staff, administrators and anyone else associated with the classroom during this pandemic.
There will be more cleaning so janitors will have a tougher job this year. There will be varied and lighter load bus routes so bus drivers will have a more difficult schedule this year. Even the cafeteria workers will have to alter their methods of preparing and serving breakfast and lunch in a attempt to keep students as separated as possible.
And then there are the teachers. God bless the teachers!
I’ve been married to a public school teacher for 39 years and I can’t even begin to tell you how many times the curriculum has changed, how many times the testing has changed, how many times every little aspect of the classroom has changed. But never, ever, have things changed like they have this year.
Everyone — students, teachers, administrators — everyone is having to learn a whole new way of learning, teaching, evaluating, grading...you name it.
At this point, I’m not really sure how all this virtual learning business is going to pan out. At our house on Sunday there was no Internet service and no cell phone service. It is shoddy at the best of times, non-existent more often than not. I’m certain that is the same for households with children all over the rural areas of Mississippi. Hopefully that will improve, but I do not see how it can be upgraded in time for this year since classes — whether in the school house or at home — began this week.
I did see on the Scott County School District plan that “Families that are not able to connect to the internet will be offered pencil and paper assignments.”
Pencil and paper. Back to the good ole days!
Time will tell how this new way of learning works out, and likely there will be more than a few teachers weeded out by the challenges of virtual learning. Tax dollars are probably going to be stretched pretty thin as well as the expense of dual learning continues to build.
We’ve just all got to do what we can to help whether it is at home with the children and a packet of homework, or online with the virtual alternative. I thought I would never say this, but I’m kind of glad my little one is all grown up and I don’t have to deal with any of this hands on.
I do know, though, that we should have all been doing our part already when it comes to educating our kids, whether it was making sure they were doing their work at home, or making sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing in the classroom.
Parental support and parental supervision are more important this year than they ever were. Good luck to all you parents, and all you educators. We know you are up to the challenge.
