I have never cried when dropping my kids off on the first day of school.
Never.
A few weeks ago, though, I was close. Ah-hem – I did not cry, but I was as close as ever. It tugged at me to see Everett off to second grade in a mask and strict guidance to keep distance between himself and his classmates.
Certainly starting school this year was filled with more apprehension than excitement. And whether your children are learning remotely from home or taking classes at a school, there is plenty of aspects of the start of the 2020-2021 school year that just, well, suck.
It sucks to see hurried, quiet little ones scurry to class donning masks.
It sucks that the return to the school day did not signal the return to friendships that languished over the extended summer break.
It sucks that kids will dodge more Plexiglas partitions than playground balls for the foreseeable future.
It sucks that parents and teacher have been put in the position of potentially jeopardizing each other’s health.
It sucks that I can’t explain to my 4-year-old why there is no playground usage at recess while taking her to the park on our way home from pre-K.
Yes, sending my kids back to school this year, indeed, sucked.
Instead of dwelling on the lingering (mostly negative) school impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am focusing on what I have learning about schools during this new normal.
Three lessons stand out:
#1: School Leadership has never been more important.
The role of school principal – at all levels of education – has never been more valuable. In times of crisis, leadership is the difference between chaos and order.
I’ve seen two styles of school leadership thus far:
(1) If your principal has been decisive, clear, overly communicative, transparent and employing a “we’re playing with this crappy hand together” mentality, you belong to a privileged set of parents that should covet the principal working to safeguard your kid’s health and education.
(2) If your school leadership has operated in a standard, business-as-usual-other-than-fewer-students-and-masks way, then your parental antennas should be tingling. This school year will be anything but standard.
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Our kids attend three schools and the leadership I’ve seen is a mixed bag. Be sure, though, I’m taking notes of the sinkers because those qualities won’t go away when this stubborn pandemic finally does.
#2: Unnecessary school rules shouldn’t pollute those that matter.
During the pandemic, the rules that really matter have held and those that don’t have fallen (rightfully) by the wayside.
I’ve longed marveled at school enforcement of policies that seem innocuous to me – like dress codes that forbid yoga pants for girls, or demands for strict, single-file lines in expansive, open air hallways.
We all know that school officials have more important things to worry about, right?
Finally, schools are focusing on rules that keep our kids safe – and leaving those that create unnecessary phone calls to parents and over-stuffed detention halls for another day.
This is one piece of the COVID pandemic I’d like to stay.
#3: Ever in-person event scheduled is tentative.
My son’s first football game has, as of today, has been moved twice. Our tight family calendar, during any other year, would not have been able to withstand such a topsy-turvy state of affairs.
In 2020, though, all events with attendance are tentative (at best).
While this creates issues for familial order, the reality of kids at school testing positive is here – meaning that no schedule is locked in, no activity is assured to happen, and all practices could wind up meaningless in the end.
Planning for time horizons greater than this is, for now, a waste of energy.
As I stop to write down and take inventory of these lessons from the start of the 2020-2021 school year, I’m finding my morale increasing.
Sure, it sucks that our kids have to wear masks to class. I’m proud of them for trying to get used to it though.
Yes, gym class absent equipment is totally lame. Maybe this time spent aimlessly walking the school track in the blazing sun will make my little ones realize how much they love kickball when they can safely return to play.
No doubt that so much of 2020 that has sucked thus far. In watching my kids over the last two weeks, though, I have renewed sense of needing to check myself, stay positive, be grateful and, most of all, suck it up like they are.
