Perspectives on School Reopening
Last month, Candor went into detail about how schools in USD 259 and surrounding districts planned to open. The question was raised: how well will schools fare under the circumstances of a pandemic? While there is still no simple, definite answers, there are many thoughts and opinions which may serve to aid in further decision-making regarding education.
According to an article from science.org, younger people can perhaps be as one-half less likely to contract and transmit COVID-19 as their adult counterparts. Information like this plays a large part in the operation of school boards across the nation, and across the world. The decisions have been made, and school is back in session. The question now is how things are going.
April Pameticky and Steve Maack, both veteran educators in Wichita’s public school system, offered their views on how things were going with virtual-only teaching at East High.
“I do feel that for the safety of students, staff, and vulnerable families who could be overwhelmed both physically and financially by students who bring home COVID-10 infections, that secondary school starting online was the right choice,” Maack said. “It’s unfortunate, but so is every aspect of this pandemic... I think the biggest barrier to getting to know students is the inability to pull a student aside and have a relatively private conversation. Even the lack of banter or verbal exchanges and greetings before and after and even during class have really affected the abilities of teachers to get to know students, and students to get to know each other. This all makes class time pure business with so few means to reestablish the normal face-to-face interactions that help build relationships.”
It is no surprise that students and staff should feel a disconnect - both from each other personally, and from the traditional ways that they have gone about educating and learning in the past. The path to success is riddled with obstacles and challenges, especially today.
“But,” Pameticky explained, “I have found some of the challenges truly exciting. Teachers have access to technology and training in a way that we never have before. This gives us a real opportunity to examine some best practices in remote learning, and adapt and change things that may have gotten a little stale.”
Modern problems require modern solutions, though not all problems within the education division of life today are inherently new to the virus, as Maack elaborates:
“Unfortunately, the inequities and difficulties and disadvantages that many students start off with don’t go away with a pandemic, and in fact, they’re exacerbated by remote schooling. So many barriers to full participation are out of a student’s control: poor internet connection, a home environment that isn’t conducive to online learning, students who already feel disenfranchised feeling even more so. So I’d like to see us, as a community, help address those basic inequities and disadvantages before the next catastrophe.”
There is currently much demand from the public for aid with Internet accessibility in the time of remote learning, and some options are available for those in student households. Pameticky said that “if I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that internet and connectivity should be part of our regular infrastructure and available to everyone at low or no cost. Everyone should have free internet. Period.”
Preparedness for upcoming semesters and beyond are on the minds of everyone connected in some way with schools. There is a level of change still on the horizon that will show the strength and shortcomings of society as we as a community deal with the pandemic, and work through it together. The future is unknown, but teachers and students are adapting to the new reality with determination, and flexibility.