Teacher Appreciation... From Afar

Since the middle of March, nothing has felt normal this year. Not teaching, not shopping, and not learning. We can't go out with a friend for a cup of coffee, we can't go out for date night, we can't even shake hands. And while in Vermont, there is some relaxation in the manufacturing and construction industries, we are entering into our last full month of the academic year, and it still looks nothing like it did in August or in February.

The first week of May is when we celebrate and appreciate our teachers for everything they do. This graphic from a tweet @NicholasFerroni sent sums up how I feel: 

Please know that this is the absolute truth. I did not think teachers could work harder than they already did. But emergency distance teaching is so much harder than what teachers do in person every day. During one of my virtual office hours, I had a teacher nearly in tears as they explained how impossible it was to monitor students' work from afar. This teacher (like me and many others) would walk around the classroom, checking in on literally every student while working on an activity or lesson. That's simply not possible anymore. There are not enough hours in the day to do this.

I had another worried sick about a child whose family was not responding to phone calls or e-mail messages. The child has a unique family dynamic, and this teacher was not sure which family member the child was staying with. As this teacher swallowed hard, they told me how the child would regularly come to school and would share in the course of the day whose house they came from and which house they would be going home to. Until this pandemic, this teacher did not realize how important that small interaction was to the peace of mind for the well being of this student.

And in case those examples don't move you to recognize the enormous undertaking this kind of teaching is for our educators, consider this article from National Geographic. There's a great deal of science that is discussed in the piece, which I encourage you all to read, but it boils down to this: "virtual interactions can be extremely hard on the brain." This is all we have to connect with our students.

The work that educators do in 2020 is already challenging. In St. Johnsbury, we see the social-emotional lives of our students and families regularly impacted by the opioid crisis in the Northeast Kingdom, by poverty, and by the fragmentation of our world. Personally, I've witnessed children acting out in ways that have stunned me. Like many school districts in Vermont, we, too, have hired more support personnel (social workers, counselors, and board-certified behavior specialists) than direct instructors to meet the needs of our students. We need these essential professionals to help our students grow from the trauma they're experiencing so they can access their education fully.

Teaching was already challenging, and it was already taxing the minds and hearts of teachers before this pandemic impacted our world. I, like many other educational leaders, parents, and community members, looked forward to celebrating teachers this week, so they could tangibly feel how much their efforts meant to us. We can't do that this year when I believe teachers need it the most.

So if I'm only relegated to words my dear St. Johnsbury teachers and paraprofessionals, please know this:

I see you. I am grateful. You awe me with your dedication and commitment to our students and their families. Not even a global health crisis can deter you. I am honored to be your superintendent.

Thank you.

Photo courtesy of www.redbooth.com