Friday Reflections

We are coming up on the last full week of October!   Praise the bridges that brought us thus far.  When I stop to think of my bridges, it’s special people who come to mind - the ones who helped me cross over to higher ground.   We have a bridge in our building - it’s Anna.  Anna has our severely handicapped three and four year old preschoolers.  Anna has fought and advocated to bring her students into the building.  She has pleaded not to wait until the entire school goes into the hybrid model.  She spoke up often and empowered us administrators to take the risk of moving her students to in person instruction.  Just soak in the image of Anna with her students.  You will see how significant Anna’s presence along with her wonderful pre school team in the lives of her kids - in the lives of her kids’s parents.  Kudos to you, Anna.  You and your team’s absence in the lives of your students was a huge void.  You built the bridge and crossed over the void.  She followed in Caroline’s footste

Whiplash, anyone? It seems that the longer we are into this pandemic, the longer the list of concerns and the list of questions. The big election, the big megaphones, the little voices all trying to break through the fog to move safely through daily personal and work life.  We want to pull the covers over our heads and not get out of bed; but, being responsible, caring, professional adults, hiding from reality is only occasionally an option. A special badge of heroism belongs to the preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade and special education staff who worked their tails off these past weeks to be prepared to teach hybrid next week. All of you stepped up – with the mixed emotions surrounding hybrid because that was what was needed.   You wanted to be meeting and smiling in person to little ones who surely would finally see you in person and greet you with warmth and excitement.  Probably more than any other single classes, the little ones need in person learning.  The day will come when it

We are all in this boat together – sink or swim.  Certainly, we are better off mentally when we swim.  When Mary first announced that we need to start planning for our hybrid model, I felt like I was sinking and occasionally coming up for air. I’m going to try to nail down my mindset over the last few weeks.   I struggled with thoughts like “I’m not ready for hybrid”, “we’re not ready for hybrid”, “I wasn’t expecting this”, “I don’t know where to turn”, “I don’t know how to turn”.  Helpless and looking for help – all in the same breath.  I felt anxious and frustrated.  I looked for reasons to prolong the start date and convinced myself that my thinking was correct. I continued being anxious and frustrated until a lightbulb went off for me.  I needed to be honest with myself about why I didn’t want to face this transition.  For me, I didn’t feel prepared.  So, I needed to address that problem in a healthy way.   I needed help.  I reached out to another principal that is usually well pre