The Journal presents my weekly reflections on being a private, Catholic school principal during what promised to be a year filled with energy, excitement, challenges and possibilities…
Whatever analogy chosen to express the work educators face this year is lacking.
I heard on the radio yesterday someone refer to September 1 as March 77th and I thought “that’s accurate” because I, like many I am sure, feel as though the time since we went into shut down and quarantine has felt like one interminable month. The typical rites of passage that end a month or a season have been all but absent over these many weeks and, for those of us in education, most of the markers that stop and start school years have, likewise, been eradicated, ignored or altered.
Over those months I spent time working from home and from school, tackling whatever the next important issue was, learning Zoom, conducting school business, holding meetings. In a real sense, considering that most of these weeks were spent at home, there was no physical space from the work. My home office was always only steps away from wherever I was in my house, my computer beckoning at all hours. I have found it hard to “leave the office.”
The reality has been compounded by the fact that there has simply been an awful lot to do. The parameters of education have been almost entirely reimagined since the pandemic began and, while there is a lot of excitement around this kind of creative disruption, there is a commensurate uptick in what needs to be done. Elements of the job we have taken for granted from the most basic – hey, how do we walk down a hallway? – to the much more complex – in what way are we going to screen almost 900 people on their way into our buildings every day? – have forced themselves to be reconsidered or to be woven from whole cloth.
When I have heard or read people suggest that teachers need to be doing more in this time, when I have seen in social media that some are questioning the work ethic of those in education, when it has been suggested to me that distance learning is akin to some kind of vacation for faculty, it is not an exaggeration to say that it has made me angry.
I’ve never worked this hard in my life.
I believe that sentiment to be true for the majority of those in education. Whatever analogy chosen to express the work educators face like the oft repeated comparison teachers are building the plane while it’s in the air is lacking. I appreciate the idea and the acknowledgement but what we are doing is far harder than that.
Most schools and districts have created 3 different modes of content and curricular delivery to suit the ever-changing conditions this year will force on education. Each of these models require distinct skills from faculty. Each presents a new set of challenges. Each asks teachers to do something in a unique way. And, on top of that, teachers will be asked to shift from one mode to another on a moment’s notice depending upon the health of the school community.
Without question, these very shifts are likewise stressful for students and their families as well. The lack of certainly this year presents challenges rarely faced in education to everyone involved in schooling. But this year teachers and administrators and schools are being scrutinized at an unprecedented level all while they are navigating these equally unprecedented waters.
I can say this with confidence, those doing the job well have never worked this hard in their lives.
To everyone who is willing to give understanding and the proverbial benefit of the doubt to educators who are striving to make the lives of their students better, I say a humble thank you. To everyone else, I ask you recognize what’s going on… this is shockingly difficult work.
We had a positive diagnosis in our community this week necessitating the quarantine of almost 75 people. That we were already in distance learning at this time was a significant blessing.