Thankful for School

I was listening to a story the other day on NPR about how different areas of the country have implemented school during these days of the pandemic, and I was struck for a moment about how grateful I am for my school district and the efforts they’ve made to keep kids safe but also keep them learning.

Back when the pandemic first hit, I was disappointed with how the school transitioned to online learning. Anything that was done once kids moved to at-home learning couldn’t be officially graded, and so a lot of kids just checked out of the learning process. It felt like from mid-March through June, school was more of a joke than a real learning experience. I was worried we’d have more of the same when things started back up in September.

But they did start back up. True, there weren’t all the afterschool activities, but my kids have still been able to do cross country and now nordic skiing. There have been some virtual music groups. They’re in class every day, sometimes in person and sometimes online, but learning as actually happening.

I know there are parts of the country where schools are still shut down, and I know this is a topic that’s incredibly sensitive with many different people, both for and against the decisions that are being implemented. I was definitely worried how in-person schooling would go, but in practice, I’ve found the kids handle it sooo much better than the adults. We’ve had some COVID cases in the district, but due to social distancing and masking measures, none of them have really broken out into a huge problem.

Is school normal for my kids? No. But it’s much more normal than it was at the end of last year, and for that I’m very grateful. There’s enough bad things happening around the world these days that I’m trying to take some time and think about the positives that are here. I’ll take any positives I can get at this point . . .

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