By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist
I have found myself doing a lot of reflecting about what was happening one year ago this week. I suspect you have been doing the same. One year ago, this week, our students and staff were anxious for a well-earned spring break. None of us realized at the time that the students and staff would not return to in-person instruction until Aug. 5.
I will never forget attending a meeting of regional superintendents in Seymour on March 11. Our State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, briefed us on what we thew about COVID-19 at the time and I’ll never forget her words, “Prepare like this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
While none of us could imagine what was yet to come, her words shocked us out of thinking that school closure would be in the scale of just a few weeks. I left that meeting in a bit of a stupor and called an emergency meeting of our building and district leaders. I said to our leadership team the very thing that Dr. McCormick said to me. “We need to prepare like this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
It was such a strange time. The governor’s office, the Indiana State Health Department, and the Indiana Department of Education became lifelines for information. We planned our days around press conferences and briefings. The new information we learned was organized and understood for application across our school community. We did our best to turn the new information around to our families as quickly as possible. We learned most information at the very same time the rest of the state did. Our responsibility was grounded in strategic execution of that new learning.
As I reflect on our initial response, we spent our immediate energies on what we identified as the most critical safety and security need: feeding our families. Once the week of spring break was expended and we were notified by the governor that we would not be returning to school until May 1 (at the time), we mobilized satellite and home food deliveries on the very first day we should have been in school.
At the time, I don’t think any of us could have imagined that we would continue the same food distribution model throughout March, April, May, June and July. Tens of thousands of meals were ultimately distributed as a support for our families in crisis.
Next, we needed to figure out student learning. For a small and rural school community, we were well positioned as a district that was 1:1 with individual devices for all students. Our real problem was connectivity. Within several weeks, our educators and administrators established a system for the delivery of instruction via our electronic learning management system. Simultaneously, educators were preparing paper packets of instructional content to assist families with no connectivity. Mainstream Fiber heroically installed wireless hotspots on all of our school facilities to assist with public connectivity. “Parking lot learning” became a norm across our county as families connected to instruction in their cars.
Treasured moments for students were canceled, hearts were broken, and we did the best we could to salvage treasured student experiences with COVID-safe alternatives. Senior yard signs around the track, an individualized graduation ceremony, and the senior parade are a few of the strategies that we were honored to pull together to celebrate the extraordinary Class of 2020.
We were grateful to return to in-person instruction on Aug. 5, 2020. Truly, all efforts from March until August were focused on making that day happen. And while this has proven to be the most difficult school year any of us have ever experienced, I look to other states and regions across our country who haven’t been in school — at all — since March 2020 and am filled with great pride for all of the people who have worked to make these difficult and simultaneously rewarding school days happen.
We are reminded every day that we aren’t on the other side of the pandemic yet. However, one year later, there is hope for getting to the “other side” of the public health emergency. Our hope is real; however, reality also requires accepting that we have a lot of healing to do. Even with the opportunity to be learning in person, students feel disconnected and despondent for the loss of normalcy during a period of development when normalcy and routine are massively important.
One year later, we are tired. That’s what happens when you are running a marathon. I have completed two marathons in my life, each 26.2 miles. Do you know when most people give up when running a marathon? Mile 20. When you are in mile 20, you have already run a really long way. The remaining 6.2 miles, for me, takes almost an hour. You have run really far, and you still have a long way to go. People give up hope at mile 20.
In the marathon of the pandemic, it feels like we are at mile 20. A marathon runner gets through mile 20 with a strong vision and confidence that our training will get us through to 26.2. As you get closer and closer, your energy actually increases, and when you cross the finish line, there is a feeling of elation like none other.
We’re going to get there, Brown County. Let’s push through mile 20 and run the last 6.2 without losing our vision. The finish line is getting closer and closer.
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
