Pivot!

Today was the third day of professional development for teachers, pandemic style. Everyone has to have their temperature taken at the front door, and log their answers to the Covid-19 questions on a google form. Then it is each teacher to his or her classroom to log on to distanced training. I never realized how much I liked in person trainings. “Blood born Pathogens” just isn’t the same when watched alone. The buzz word for this school year is “PIVOT”. Navigating this pandemic and opening schools is analogous with an episode of FRIENDS……

My heart just aches for our students and teachers who are going to be used as “experiments” on virus transmission in schools. I was talking with another teacher today about the lack of safety minded, proactive leadership for our schools and the students who most need our support. Area churches have offered use of their buildings to provide additional space. How proactive it would be for teams of teachers to utilize these buildings by going into the poorest communities and setting up learning centers as a distancing option for families in need. There just has to be a better way besides opening up as if there is not a pandemic!

Covid-19 hits closer to my circle of people as two friends from my church small group from several years ago test positive. Both are older adults, near 70. As I settled down for the night, my throat started hurting. I am hoping that it is gone in the morning, because I don’t want to be sent home to work remotely because of it. This is a sample of how the year will “pivot”. I have never in my career, let a sore throat keep me from work unless it was accompanied by a fever. I know I am not alone in this practice. Our schools have, as long as I can remember, encouraged parents to send their kids to school with minor illnesses, as long as there was not a fever. This pandemic has us needing to change a lifetime of practice at working through illnesses.

What will tomorrow hold?

~AoA