By Corinthia Richards
This letter was emailed to Brigid Nease and Shannon Lessley at the Harwood Unified Union School District central office.
Good Morning Ms. Nease, Ms. Lessley,
I have four kids under age 7. Twins will be entering third grade at WES and one entering kindergarten at WES this fall.
We are very excited to have them return to a school life we all love. I have filled out three surveys (using this same email address).
During lengthy discussions with other parents, it was suggested that we all write to you both directly with suggestions about what we think would make schools safer for everyone.
Kids are not motivated to learn if they are unhappy. That is one reason why remote learning was tough for many families.
So let's get and keep these kids back in school while keeping all the teachers and staff safe!
Kids love to be outside. Kids don't need desks, they need connections with peers and teachers.
My older three are currently attending a forest camp in Roxbury where they are outside all day. Literally, there is a tarp and an outhouse in the woods. They build a fire every morning.
They have never been happier.
KIDS THRIVE OUTSIDE
On their first day, everyone arrived wearing masks from home, but their first project was for each child to make/tie-dye their own mask with dye made from plants. I think this exercise is a great example of how schools need to embrace a new, maybe temporary, multidisciplinary COVID curriculum.
Let's think about how we can use currently under-utilized resources. Wedding tents and propane heaters. Let's build our own exciting outdoor classrooms (think Ski & Skate Sale).
And, maybe project No. 2 is kids, working together, building stools, benches and tables for these outdoor learning spaces. It is much more important for kids to learn how to read and follow instructions, than fiction.
Kids don't thrive in front of screens. Kids thrive being active outside.
We do such a great job of marketing the Mad River Valley as a recreational destination. So let's reflect this in our local schools' curriculum and embrace our amazing local resources.
The best way that I can think of to keep the school occupancy numbers reduced is to have 25 to 50 percent of students out hiking, biking or skiing at any given time. Maybe just groups of 10 with two teachers or whatever numbers make sense for the buses.
In my view, Lake Champlain is the perfect topic for creating a hands-on, multidisciplinary learning experience. Lake Champlain, only an hour away, offers students a rich array of subjects for weaving together: history, biology, archeology, politics, social studies, recreation, economics, music, art, fiction (Champ!), French (as it goes into Quebec). The list goes on ...
Maybe the 20/21 school year will be remembered not only for COVID protocols, but as the year Harwood Union Unified School District students learned everything there is to be learned and more about Vermont's most important lake, Lake Champlain. Each school day, buses take 20% of the kids to either Shelburne Farms, Shelburne Museum, the amazing Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the U.S. Coast Guard Station or just to a beach to collect specimens and build sand castles.
I hope the local school district chooses to focus on finding fresh inspiration and innovative solutions, not fear, to guide them in designing the much anticipated reopening of school.
So often in life we overthink things and can't see the forest for the trees.
Corinthia Richards lives in Waitsfield.
