Cummings: ‘We are dealing with an unprecedented situation’

A note from Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings to parents as the school year begins:

I hope that everyone is doing well.  School starts in one week! Our staff started back last week and they have been working tirelessly to prepare for the unique school year ahead of us.  We are incredibly fortunate to have such a talented and student-focused staff.

Stress, Worries, and Thanks

I want to speak to the level of stress and worry that exists. 

I can’t imagine that we have a parent, staff member, or student who isn’t stressed or worried. It is 100 percent understandable and expected, but that doesn’t make it easier.  We are dealing with an unprecedented situation.  On the school end, we are all in uncharted waters and are trying to do our best with what seems like hundreds of variables in play.  Parents (me included) want their children to be safe, engaged, and learning while at the same time are trying to figure out daycare, manage their stress and worries, and deal with all of the typical parent challenges on top of that.

While change is hard, it is very much our reality for the foreseeable future.  We are working tirelessly to basically make three models of schooling work at once (in-person with safety measures, remote weeks, and remote learning academy). None of which we have done before.

While during the summer I spoke many times about our general vision as to how this would potentially work, it wasn’t and isn’t set in stone. We are working day in and day out to make all of the pieces (staffing, student needs, state guidance, time, space, etc.) work together.  It is EASILY the most complex and challenging work that any educator or administrator has done or will do (hopefully) in their career.  Our focus on ensuring staff and student safety, along with meeting the needs of all students, is unwavering.  These two guiding principles are paired with an all-hands on deck approach that is focused on continual improvement.  We are making this up as we go and I am incredibly proud of the work that has been done.  We will get the year started and be constantly looking to assess what is working and what isn’t, and make adjustments as we move forward.

I greatly appreciate the patience and understanding that has been shown, and as a school community I know we will need those two things more than ever over the coming weeks. I remain confident that our approach is second to none. While it will be a work in progress, we as a community will be successful in meeting the needs of all of our children despite the challenges that we are facing.

Balance

I received a few questions this week about the amount of time that students will be participating in synchronous classes (online with a Grafton teacher). In both the hybrid remote weeks and the Remote Learning Academy, there will be a mix of both synchronous learning and asynchronous activities (i.e. learning platform activities, discussion boards, choice boards, participation in online software, projects, etc.). We don’t yet know the ideal balance between synchronous and asynchronous activities, however, we are going to be constantly evaluating what is working well, and what isn’t and adjusting as needed.  

Clearly, our expectations as to what a very young student can do in terms of focused engagement and ‘work’ are going to differ from what a high school student is capable of.  One of my biggest concerns right now is trying to find that balance in the remote setting.  While most of our children are great (often too great!) at being on their devices while it’s on their own terms, managing the amount of time they are focused on screens and schoolwork in the remote setting is going to be a real challenge for all of us. If we assume that the models we are putting in place could last the entire year, we need to be mindful that this isn’t a temporary approach like what was implemented last spring, but instead something that we need to develop over the upcoming 170 days of schooling.  

Communication

This week, the schools will be putting out teacher assignments and school-specific information.  We will also be publishing bus routes.  Transportation is high on the concern list as we have limited seating on each bus and cannot absorb students onto the buses if they did not indicate that they would need bussing.  Bus drivers will have a list of students assigned to each bus and we need parents and students to make sure that we don’t have students changing bus assignments on their own. 

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

-Jay