School started this week and although there had been great trepidation on the part of the Vermont NEA (which gave the administration of Vermont Governor Phil Scott a D- on how the state offered guidance for schools to reopen), what happened here could only be described as joyful.
Educators, staff and parents are right to be concerned about reopening schools during a pandemic, but Vermont’s rates are currently low enough to allow for a measured return to the schools.
There has been a lot of talk about the negative impacts of fully remote learning for students’ social and emotional needs. Talking to local educators, the day after the first day of school made it clear that it wasn’t just the students who were missing in-person learning.
Here’s what a few had to say: “Exhilarating.” “Exciting.” “Amazing.” “Fabulous to be with kids.” “Surprisingly awesome.” “Happily, surprised by how well it went.” ‘Feeling like I’m going to survive this year after all.” “So happy to how excited the kids were to see us and each other.” “So much love.” “Our schools are alive again.”
As Waitsfield Elementary School principal Kaiya Korb said, here were teachers, after six months of fully remote work, finally back in their classrooms with 50 percent of their students, doing what they do best -- teaching children in person.
It must have felt great for teachers to be able to do the jobs they love. Despite the complicated and complex COVID safety protocols that educators must follow, it must have been great to have a little bit of normalcy after so many months of remote learning.
No one is forgetting that the virus is still among us and that things can change quickly and that COVID cases may see an increase. It’s up to all of us to continue to follow safety protocols so that our community COVID rates stay low so that school rates will stay low and schools can remain open. We know that kids need in-person learning to thrive socially and emotionally.
But let’s also celebrate this week, and the joy it brought to educators and students and parents.
Congrats to all who made it happen!
