Editor’s note: This commentary is by Brian G. Ricca, who is superintendent of schools in St. Johnsbury.
I will admit, I was one of those people. When this whole thing began to take hold of our state in the early part of March, I thought, “We will get through this, and we will get back to school in August, and we can start to address what we lost.” Yet as I sit and type this blog post, I don’t even know what school will look like in August.
That’s a rabbit hole where I could go down. It’s full of “what ifs” and “hows.” There’s a world of personal protective equipment, masks, and sanitization stations. There are conversations about physical distance, one-way hallways, and safety protocols. I can’t go there yet.
So, where do I turn? To the things, I am certain about.
What do I know with 100% certainty? In my personal life, I know the love of my wife, children, and family are certain. I know of dear friendships that have been maintained during this time and yearn to be replenished with less physical distance, more handshakes, and plenty of hugs.
And what do I have absolute clarity about in my professional world? That whenever we have a restart in education, we will have to make it about one thing and one thing only: relationships. Yes, we will have to transition back, and there will be assessments. There will be plans to remediate, plans to maintain, and plans to enrich our students’ education. We will need to set goals, have conversations with parents or guardians, and work diligently together to achieve those goals.
But before all of that, we must reestablish our relationships with our students. The abruptness of our departure did not allow for the slow transition of winter to spring to the end of the school year. We lost the field trips, the quarter ends, and typical mileposts to the final days of school. Without little warning, our school year unceremoniously ended. And not only that, we have labored through emergency distance teaching, which is challenging (at best) for everyone involved, especially our students.
Know that I’m not at all quibbling with any of these decisions. The public health ramifications were and are clear. Given the lack of a vaccine, physical distance is the only way to stop this virus from transmitting. Until we know more about the virus itself, the antibodies, and the epidemiology, this is the responsible way forward. It’s working in our state. According to Michael S. Pieciak, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, we have the lowest three-day and seven-day growth rates of the virus in the country.
And it can’t be forever. At some point, our buildings will have children and adults back in them. There are models from other countries that are being considered. Our Agency of Education, in partnership with the governor’s administration, is working to share guidance and parameters in the coming weeks. Public health officials are continuing to monitor the cases in our state and inform us on how we can best begin to consider education in the coming months. But as of today, we don’t know what that will look like.
So what do we know? We know that no one ever chose to go into education as a profession for the paycheck. We know that it’s not about June, July, and August, except for the skeptics. And we know that the choice to go into education was not for the glory. It was for one thing, and one thing only.
The choice to be a professional educator is made when one is hoping to find a path forward in service to students and their families. Period. That’s it. That’s the list.
Further, we know the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of our students and their families is through relationships. It was never about content, it was never about scores, it was never about essays, or projects, or dioramas. Do you know what most children worry about on the first day of school, each and every school year in this country? Will my teacher like me?
Education was about relationships on March 17, 2020, the last day before school dismissal in the state of Vermont.
Education is about relationships, as we navigate unchartered waters of emergency distance teaching.
Education will be about relationships, when school restarts again, no matter what it looks like.
About this, I am certain.
