By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist
Every year on the day before school starts, our entire district team of employees gathers together for breakfast at Brown County High School and then we hold our annual meeting immediately following in the auditorium. It is the one time every year that the whole district is together in one space. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
To be respectful of gathering rules set forth by the governor and to give teachers more time to prepare in their classrooms, we canceled that meeting this year. Instead, the following message was shared with all of our employees. I share excerpts with you today because it seems applicable for the entire school community, of which you are a member.
From March 13 to today, a line from the musical, “Hamilton,” has been running on repeat in my mind. The lyric, “The world turned upside down,” is referenced throughout the musical after it is initially introduced in the song, “Yorktown.” It seems like almost daily from March 13 until today, “The world turned upside down …” goes through my mind. And while the meaning is altogether different as it is referenced in “Hamilton,” it has been something of an anthem to get through the days when information seems impossible to comprehend as reality.
There is no question, the world is turned upside down right now. And while I can’t see into the future, when I asked my Magic 8-Ball if the world would be turned upside down for the entire school year, it responded with, “Signs Point to Yes.”
This is not your typical welcome back to school message, just as this will not be a usual return to school. We have experienced and will continue to navigate one of the most challenging and traumatic events that our generation will endure. There is no roadmap for this event. We have certainly made mistakes in the past 4.5 months. I am confident we will make more.
To that end, I’d like to assure you all that we reflect daily. We evaluate and reevaluate strategies to see if our planning makes sense for what we need to do tomorrow based on what we know today. If we need to change, we don’t beat ourselves up over a failed strategy. We learn from the challenge and deploy action that makes better sense. There is truly no ego in our response plan.
It has been our commitment, from the beginning of this crisis, to communicate truthfully and frequently. While we often learn information at the exact time that the public does, we have done our best to distill, organize and translate the information for application and deployment in Brown County. We pledge to do the same as we transition into the new school year.
I’d like to offer an important point for consideration. We understand that every employee in our organization is returning this school year in a unique position experiencing a wide continuum of emotions. Some might not have many concerns about the return to school, where others might, in fact, be terrified.
To that end, it is critically important that our organization — our team — respects the fact that we are all showing up somewhere different on that continuum. The way one person shows up to this thing isn’t right or wrong. None of us are in a position to judge. Rather, we have the opportunity to lift each other up with a shared spirit of team, of family. We are truly in this together.
There is no question that a crisis like what we are currently enduring creates unexpected problems. However, I fundamentally believe that enduring a crisis like this also presents unprecedented opportunities. I believe it is important to ask ourselves the question, “How might Brown County Schools come out of this better than we are today?” and “How might I come out of this better than I am today?” I wonder if reframing our thinking from obsessing over the problems to obsessing over the opportunities will result in answers to those questions that we might not even be able to imagine today.
One thing we know, the world won’t be turned upside down forever. But it’s going to be upside down for a good amount of time. This is going to be a tough year. There is no question. To make it less tough, I wonder if you would consider the following:
Communicate. If something doesn’t feel right, talk to your supervisor. We are fundamentally committed to listening to every member of our team to meet your needs. If you need something, let us know.
Take care of yourself physically and emotionally. Get enough sleep. Exercise. Mediate/pray. Turn off the news. Read. Tell your dog he/she is a very good dog. Drink a lot of water. Wash your hands. Wear the mask.
Assume flexibility. Flexibility is a virtue we can usually excel at when it’s other people who have to be flexible. When we have to be flexible, it gets annoying pretty fast. If we can walk into this school year assuming that things will be different and our responsibilities will require flexibility, we will be better positioned for less disappointment.
Love. Love each other. Love our students who, for so many, are depleted of emotional deposits of the same because they haven’t had YOU in their lives. Showing up with love and offering grace to each other will help us get through the hard days.
I was struggling with a way to close this message and then a friend from the intermediate school shared this incredible photo with me that was taken two nights before school began, the night before what would have been our annual meeting.
When I saw this image, I said out loud, “We’re going to be just fine.”
Thank you for your love for the children and youth of Brown County, and thank you for loving each other.
#WeAREBrownCounty
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
