Educators – from superintendents to principals to teachers – are in uncharted waters when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as there was no road map this spring when schools across the country shut down and transitioned to distance learning, there is very little clarity about what the next school year may look like.
So even as the Denair Unified School District prepares to celebrate graduates, retirees and students being promoted to the next grade in the upcoming week, the landscape for when classes resume in August remains uncertain.
“It’s way too early. If we put a solid plan in place today, it would change tomorrow,” Denair Superintendent Terry Metzger told trustees and others during the district’s second Zoom board meeting Thursday night.
“We’re definitely getting mixed signals from state and county,” Metzger said. “We don’t know what schools’ role will be. Schools need to be open so parents can go back to work. The safety of staff and students is paramount and, if we open the economy too soon, there’s definitely a danger we could be right back here.”
“Here” is a world where no face-to-face instruction has taken place since March 18; where teachers, students and other non-essential workers have been sheltering in place; where lessons have been delivered via computer and video meetings; and where milestone events – like Denair High’s drive-through graduation ceremony May 22 – will be nothing like anyone has ever experienced before.
The logistics of Thursday’s meeting certainly reflected the new reality. Metzger and the five trustees — Crystal Sousa, Kathi Dunham-Filson, Ray Prock Jr., Carmen Wilson and Regina Gomes, plus student trustee Logan Pierce – sat 6 feet apart around a U-shaped table arrangement. The principals, staff and community members who normally would attend in person instead connected via Zoom.
“Flexibility” and “adaptability” were the words frequently used to describe what the last two months have been like for everyone.
“It’s called a school closure, but it’s really just the buildings that are closed,” Dunham-Filson said. “I’m grateful for all the hard work everybody has done.”
Metzger said the district will work with the Stanislaus County Office of Education to create training for teachers about how to deliver lessons via distance learning.
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