Pirate Rising

Our opening day with employees begins with a convocation of sorts, where we introduce our new faculty and staff to the collective and kick off the new school year. It is also one of the few times during the year where I have the privilege of addressing the entire faculty and staff as a group. This annual address is an attempt to offer some words of inspiration and encouragement, lay out an agenda for the school year, and provide a theme that I hope becomes the foundation of our year. This year I have chosen the theme 'Pirate Rising'. It takes on a special meaning for us as we restart learning and open our schools back up to students for the first time in five months. Here is an abridged version of those remarks. 

All of us have a different life experience. We are multi-generational. We are married. We are single. We have pre-existing conditions or loved ones at home that do. Our political ideologies differ. But we do share one very important characteristic that binds us together: we are educators. If you work in this school district, no matter your title you are an educator. We all love kids and want to help them grow, look out for them, and care about their safety. We are Pirates!

Indeed the challenges we face are enormous and each new day often feels the same as the one before. But that soon will change as we get this Pirate Ship underway in a few short days. Think of the journey we have been on to get to this day!

When we left in March, the high that day was 49 degrees, the trees had yet to bloom and we were all looking forward to the freshness of spring and nicely mowed green lawns. Now, when school resumes in a few days we will be in the twilight of summer. Think about the time that has gone by: just over five months! It feels like a lifetime ago. Who among us thought our vocation as educators would include practicing our craft in the midst of a global pandemic, the likes of which haven’t been seen in over 100 years. The world that exists today is vastly different than it was on March 12. Some among us have moved on—to retirement, new opportunities; all without an opportunity for us to say goodbye and bring closure. The 2019-2020 school year ended in a haphazard way that included plastic bags full of locker possessions and commencement exercises that included a socially distanced parade and virtual graduation ceremony. 

In the intervening months we have worked hard to prepare for this moment: Creating contingencies; sweating the small stuff; and being thoughtful about details that under more normal circumstances wouldn’t even be considered. And of course: answering one question that inevitably led to ten others.

Part of our charge as a school district is to help society return to normal. The reopening of schools is seen as a critical step to achieving that goal. Over the course of this pandemic, the multi-faceted role schools serve has been on full display. Our communities have seen firsthand how important you are and the impact schools have not only in the fulfillment of our primary mission as educators, but those secondary and tertiary missions as well: Think of the countless social services so many have come to rely on us to provide: food, shelter, healthcare, counseling, and even protection. We’ll shoulder that responsibility proudly and politely remind policymakers of that role when the time is appropriate.

Yet in spite of all the challenges in front of us, I believe we are truly blessed. Think about how lucky we are to be alive right now! We are living through an epochal moment in human history that decades from now you will be able to tell your heirs exactly where you were and what you were doing when all of this transpired. These types of events cause me to think retrospectively at some of those moments and times I have witnessed in my lifetime and consider how it has changed me or even changed society. I believe this is one of those times.

Today the world is turned upside down. We share a common experience and a unified call to action. So then, when you are telling your grandchildren the story of your life, you will be able to tell them that your contributions during this moment were not just noteworthy—but significant.

In many ways this has been a slow moving crisis; yet at the same time I find myself surprised each Sunday evening that another week has slipped by. In the intervening months we have had to find other ways to amuse ourselves since many summer vacations and plans were cancelled. We have had to look forward to the small things that normally fill the space between one moment in time and another. One such event for me was the release of ‘Hamilton’ the movie over the summer. I often tell people that if I hadn’t been a music teacher then I certainly would have become a history teacher! My favorite vacation destinations are historical sites and trouping around revolutionary or civil war battlefields.  

Perhaps that is part of the reason why I consider myself lucky to have borne witness to such incredible (and horrifying) events in our history. Hopefully we can learn lessons from them and teach our youth so they don’t repeat the mistakes of their ancestors. I believe one of the best lines in Hamilton is ‘History has its eyes on you’. It’s not just the event, but how we respond to that event and what we learn from it. 

We need to learn from the past and use those historical lessons, not only to give us hope, that yes things will eventually return to ‘normal’, but to learn from past mistakes. Isn’t there a saying that says, ‘those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it?’ I certainly think we can draw some parallels from Hamilton for those lessons, hope, and even strength. 

Early in Act One of Hamilton, George Washington is introduced to the audience in the song 'Right Hand Man'. One of the most striking lines to me is when Washington is making a case to Hamilton [for help] with the recurring line: outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned. The line ‘I’ll write to Congress and tell ‘em we need supplies You rally the guys, master the element of surprise…’ is particularly poignant considering the immense challenges we have had to overcome to get to this point today.

The fact of the matter is that the beginning of our Revolutionary War did not go well. Our soldiers were not well trained, lacked equipment, and faced a far superior army. As it alludes to in this song, we were beaten badly in Manhattan and if it weren’t for a midnight retreat under the cover of darkness the war may have been quickly over. It really wasn’t until the spring of 1778 at Valley Forge when things started to change for the Revolutionaries when Frederick von Steuben assisted General Washington to train and transform the Continental Army into a unified and cohesive army.

Can you see the parallel? When we closed this past spring and shifted to remote learning we too were outgunned outmanned outnumbered and outplanned. All of a sudden, the way we ‘did school’ changed. No training, no supplies, no ‘man on the inside’. We just shifted—without warning.

Don’t get me wrong though, the work you did this spring was remarkable. You rose to the occasion (as Hamilton did) and shifted an entire educational system. I watched in awe the way with which you met the needs of your students. But we can’t kid ourselves: it wasn’t easy or without extreme difficulty and hardship. You didn’t have the training, resources, supplies, or bandwidth. 

The good news is that we are much better prepared now. Perhaps this is our spring of 1778? Nevertheless, as I shared with you all a few weeks ago, we are a long way from normal. The Revolutionary War didn’t effectively end until October 17, 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown.

An In Hamilton, the surrender at Yorktown is merely the Act One finale. 

My dear colleagues, I do believe we are about halfway through Act One. The good news though, is we are much better prepared than we were in March. Yes, I anticipate this school year will be like no other we have ever witnessed. All throughout the musical, and particularly in Act One there is a recurring theme that is more than a literary device. It is a call to action. It is a call to ‘Rise Up’. That is what I ask of you this year. To fly above your station and RISE UP!

Final Thoughts Before we Begin

We are on the eve of a new school year. With a nod to the fact it has been 165 days since we had students in our buildings, we recognize how important this moment truly is for our entire community. While this is the final communication that I will provide prior to the resumption of classes, you can expect to continue hearing from me frequently. However, the mass emails to which you have become accustomed will no longer be a weekly staple of your inbox. You can continue to hear from me weekly going forward, but I will revert to the past practice of posting these messages to my blog and Twitter feed. I would encourage you to please subscribe to my blog by email. You can sign up in the upper right hand corner of my page, and at the same time view the archive of articles, which include almost 450 posts spanning a decade. I guess I've had a lot to say in the intervening years! 

Today's message is to provide some final thoughts, clarifying points, and reminders of our procedures once school starts on Monday. I also want to take this opportunity to thank our entire community for your prayers and words of support over these intervening months. Nothing about our operations right now are easy or unfortunately without criticism. As we begin school, it is important to remember that the resumptions of classes should not be interpreted as a return to business as normal, indeed as I shared with you all a couple of weeks ago, we are a long way from normal. We will ask for your continued grace in the coming months. Here are some things that I think you all should be aware of as we begin the 2020-2021 school year. 

Visitors and Open House One of the biggest disappointments for me right now is that we can't welcome you all into our brand new facility. We have worked hard as a community over the past eighteen months during construction of our Phase III project. You have all been incredibly patient with our dusty hallways and odd ways of entering our P-8 facility and central administration building. I had envisioned a grand opening ceremony with a ribbon cutting and tours of the new space. Unfortunately I am going to have to beg of your continued patience. We will have that grand opening and tours-but it is going to have to wait. Right now, all visitors to all our buildings are limited to critical personnel and students. Those visitors who have a defined purpose will need to have an appointment. You can expect to complete a health screening before entering any of our facilities and face coverings will be required. As you have also heard by now, we have decided to cancel our open house. Parents and guardians of elementary students will have an opportunity to meet their child's teacher via Zoom later this week. You can expect to hear from those teachers very soon. 

Be advised also that at this time we are not renting out any of our facilities to outside groups. This includes our gyms, fields, common spaces, and auditoriums. Access to facilities is limited to school sponsored events only. This policy will be reviewed quarterly. 

Activities and Events For right now, our events are limited to half capacity. Every other row of bleachers will be closed to promote social distancing. Again, face coverings will be required at all events: football or volleyball. Because of the limited capacity, we are encouraging you to cheer us on from home in the comfort of your own living room by subscribing to our You Tube Channel. All our varsity and sub varsity events will be live streamed. We really want to allow parents and siblings of our performers and athletes to have the opportunity to view our events live in person. Additionally, it is important to note that children younger than high school age will need to be accompanied by an adult and must be seated in the bleachers. 

Recent Board Action The Board of Directors met on Monday evening, August 17th in a regular session meeting. At that meeting, they made a couple of critical final decisions as it relates to our Return to Learn Plan. First, we agreed to partner with Edgenuity for online curriculum and content to use with our learners who are participating in the voluntary offsite learning program. This program will run parallel to those students learning onsite and we are excited for the opportunities this will provide our offsite students. While there can be no replacement for face to face instruction, we feel this will be a good substitute in the interim until we can welcome all our students back to the buildings.

The board also acted affirmatively on a recommendation to add an additional school bus route. We are thankful to those parents who filled out our most recent survey indicating their willingness to transport their own children to school. Yet at the same time we recognize that is not an option for everyone. An added  bus route on the northern edge of the district will help us to balance some of our load sizes and promote better social distancing. An added note for our Country Terrace neighborhood: bus assignments this year will be arranged by family unit as opposed to grade level. All students using school transportation will have assigned seats and strict adherence to face covering requirements will be observed. 

Get some rest. School starts Monday!

All Ahead Flank: Schools Will Fully Reopen on August 24

To begin, I want to thank everyone for their support and understanding of this incredibly complex evolution that will come with the reopening of our schools on August 24th. We all understand your desire for students to return to our schools fully onsite as soon and as safely as possible. These intervening months have been the biggest challenge schools across the nation have faced in decades. At the same time, it is important to understand these challenges and difficult decisions are not yet behind us. 

This evening I am writing to inform you of our learning model to start the school year. The Board of Directors of the Hudson Community School District voted this evening to fully reopen our schools to all students on August 24. We based our decision on feedback we received from multiple surveys distributed to our community, questions we received from families who have reached out to the district and to the Board of Directors, and our Return to Learn Decision Matrix for the Hudson Community School District. 

Our intention is to provide a careful approach to starting the school year. Remote learning was the least popular of choices, especially those with childcare issues during the school day. While at some point another modality may be necessary, we believe at this time fully reopening is the best choice. We will try to work with families to reduce these challenges to the greatest extent possible.

When we begin school on August 24th, the majority of our students will not have been in our buildings, a school bus, or even on school property for 165 days. In that time, our community and families have experienced enormous hardships. While the virus has impacted us all, that impact varies greatly among our community members.

One piece of very consistent findings among the mountains of research on COVID-19 is that children need to be in school for their continued healthy development. Therefore, our focus has been and will continue to be making it safe for children to return to school, while providing choices like the Voluntary Offsite Learning Option to parents whose children have medical needs or who have the desire, means, and ability to support their child’s learning at home. Based on the actions of the Board tonight, we have extended the deadline for signing up for this option to Friday, August 14, 2020. For your convenience, you can sign up for that option here. 

We realize this decision isn’t popular with all, but we do so only with the very best of intentions and what we feel makes the most sense for students in the Hudson Community School District. 

In closing, I would like to again thank those of you who have reached out in person, electronically, through social media and in our surveys with notes of encouragement for our school team. Your understanding of our difficult position as educators and leaders in this situation means more than words can express. Additionally, thank you for supporting our teachers and other staff as they express concerns for personal safety in returning to onsite instruction. Everyone in the Hudson Community School District is doing their very best in these difficult circumstances and we appreciate your trust. 

We Are a Long Way From Normal

Well, it's almost decision time. If it seems like it has been a long and drawn out process, it has. By the time school starts in whatever format that might be, 165 days will have lapsed since last we had students in our buildings. That's five months and twelve days. We (the Board and I) have heard from many of you in the intervening months, and more frequently in the last couple of weeks. We appreciate your input and the respectful manner in which you have engaged with us. I am also grateful for the support you have provided with your words of continual encouragement and prayers during this unusual time. With the number of days that have passed, I can understand your desire to see our students return to the classroom. And I have also read the same news stories many of you have; about schools around the country that have opened, only to swiftly close again due to an outbreak. So I can also understand those of you who wish to see us remain online or implement our hybrid option. 

The fact of the matter is there are no good options and this is far from an easy call. Make no mistake, the decision that is ultimately made will not be popular with everyone. If you support the decision that is made, I'll encourage you not to view it through rose colored glasses. If you don't support the decision, I'll ask for your continued grace. Then of course either way, there is a chance the decision could be reversed or changed with little to no advanced warning if conditions in Black Hawk County dictate such a change is warranted. 

When the Board convenes on Monday evening, the decision they make will be rooted in data. Now, a big part of my job, for better or worse is to advise the board. That is, quite literally how I earn my paycheck. Providing advice and recommending a course of action. Now, they don't always have to take my advice or agree with my recommendations; which is the whole reason we have a board: To consider ideas, debate issues, and hopefully form consensus. That is how good decisions are made. Truth be told about 90% of the decisions that are made at the board table are relatively easy calls. We don't need to spend a whole lot of time discussing which math books to purchase; our team has done the legwork and researched the options. We don't need to spend a lot of time pondering whether or not now is the right time to buy a school bus, and if so which bus we should we purchase. We also don't need to spend a whole lot of time determining which color scheme we should use for the new commons floor. Easy, right?

But no matter what, how easy or how difficult a particular decision may be, it is critical that we look to the data. That data will guide us, provide cover, rational and hopefully give comfort that the ultimate verdict is right and just. Some of that data you have provided us and will certainly carry weight in deliberations. For better or worse, the governor's office released metrics that school districts are expected to use as part of our data set. Now, we can debate the rationale behind those metrics, but that is probably a discussion best left for another time. I'll only say that they are unique to Iowa.

Nevertheless I sat down over the weekend to do several things. First, to develop a decision matrix based on the multiple data points available that the board can use in their deliberation. Second, to lay out the number of options that can be considered and even some 'variations on the theme'. Third, to provide my recommendation as to the proposed course of action.

The number of options available to us is work that already has largely been done over the course of the last several months. We have done the research, made the plans, and with a few minor variations will be able to implement any of the options that may be selected. Of course there are details that remain, which will be worked out in the coming days, but in terms of execution we are prepared (well-as prepared as we can be). Remember: no battle plan survives first contact. 

To the first point, quite simply this is just a math problem. In the event you are wondering, right now our average 14 day positivity rate in Black Hawk County is 7.8% (August 4). If you look at the table above, you can see quite clearly that we are in the 'Minimal to Moderate' category which suggests the learning models that we are permitted to use are either 'onsite' or 'hybrid'. So yes, it goes without saying that we are more than likely going to be either onsite or hybrid. But, as I was creating the decision matrix using the table above, it was some other data points that gave me pause. If you look at the red box, one of the metrics is health care resource capacity concerns. That means on our decision matrix, we are actually looking at the number of inpatient hospital beds available: 54.90% as of August 3. We are going to be monitoring hospital capacity as part of our decision making process this school year. Let that sink in for a minute.

So to the third point: my recommendation. If you have been patiently reading today's post with anticipation that at this point in the article we would finally arrive at the recommendation, I apologize because we're not there. I don't have one: yet. Granted, I have a few more days of data to collect but I'm not quite ready. That's because I also realized that as much as we all want things to return to normal, we are far from it. 

A few weeks back I was in a meeting with the administrative cabinet here in the district and I shared much the same: far from normal. A lot of their work for the foreseeable future is going to be focused on logistics and management. Fact of the matter is, a lot of what you are likely to see in our classrooms this year is abnormal. Face coverings. Physical distancing. An attention to details that under any other situation would go unnoticed or not even considered. I visited with Ron Steele from KWWL last week for an upcoming episode of the Steele Report, and as we were sitting in a classroom I remarked that in a lot of ways it resembled a room right out of 1950: desks spaced in straight rows as far apart as we can get them-all facing the same direction. That was a first grade classroom by the way.

Yes, the work we will be doing this year will look far different from what it did on March 12, 2020. We won't be seeing small group activity. Students probably won't be able to approach the teacher's desk with the same casualness that was the norm a year ago. Likewise, I doubt if you will see many teachers 'take a knee' and get down on the same level as that student who has a question about multiplying fractions. 

School does start soon. Of that I am certain. Exactly when it returns to normal? Hopefully soon as well. I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

P.S. Be on the lookout for another email on Thursday afternoon for directions on how to listen in to the board meeting on Monday night.