What We Learned From COVID

From an operational standpoint our school year has looked relatively normal. Sure, we closely monitored the number of COVID cases in the district and diligently sent out notifications when we had confirmed exposures. We continued to encourage masking and reminded those eligible to get vaccinated. And like last year, we saw an uptick in cases in the fall and had our worse stretch right after the holidays. As the CDC and county health department changed their guidance, we followed suit. The few restrictions still in place were lifted following spring break. This included parents being allowed to volunteer in classrooms and enjoy lunch with their children. So, it should have come as no surprise that on Wednesday evening the board repealed the emergency resolutions, which were originally enacted on March 23, 2020. This was the official policy that governed district operations for the duration of the pandemic. Granted, from a practical standpoint repealing this proclamation has no real significant value. Yet it sends a powerful symbol to our community that we have come through the pandemic, and as such serves as the final gateway to normalcy. It seems like so long ago! If you are interested in a trip down memory lane, check out the archival page of the website which includes all our communications, procedures, and polices from those very early days. 

All throughout this pandemic I have shared numerous views, updates, and reflections of this journey. We have had numerous bumps in the road, and even a few close calls. From time to time, emotions have run high. A sports season or two have been suspended. During our early days, students were quarantined: multiple times. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when our favorite school activity was held, and shared in the disappointment when it was cancelled. But most of all, we persevered. We learned. We got better.

One of the most important things I learned during this stretch is that we have a very supportive community. While we may have had sharp disagreements from time to time over some of the policies we had in place, at the same time I felt there was a genuine understanding from our community that our school board and school staff was doing their best based on the information we had available. Indeed there were outliers, but I will always be grateful no one ever 'stormed the room' during a board meeting. Unfortunately some of these acts became all too common in school board rooms around the state and country. 

I also learned that to bet against our faculty and staff would be unwise. Last year, our theme was #PirateRising. This was borne from the idea that, following what we will probably look back on years from now as a catastrophic end to the 2019-2020 school year, we needed to pick up the pieces and rebuild what was lost. We needed to show our community, our students, and all our stakeholders that we could reopen (and keep open) our schools safely and effectively. To show that we could provide an outstanding and effective educational program for all our students. Our hashtag this school year has been #MovingMountains, and they most certainly did. No matter the challenge, they eagerly accepted it and let nothing get in their way. They were presented with a herculean task and removed all obstacles. I continue to be so proud of our employees!

Speaking of pride, we can't forget to mention our students. For all the yearning for a snow day, holiday break, or summer vacation: they want to be here. Yes, the breaks are nice and from time to time provide a much needed respite. But in the final analysis, our kids want to be here with their classmates and teachers. They want to wear Hudson blue at the game on Friday night and perform on their stage in front of a packed house. They want to be in our classrooms learning how to read and playing on the playground with their friends and cousins. 

Finally, we learned that there is no substitute for in person learning. While we were able to quickly pivot to a remote environment, it really isn't the best for anyone: not the teachers, students, or parents that had to juggle at home learning with the stress of work in the middle of a pandemic. Because of this, we developed gaps in learning. But the good news? Well we know where those gaps are and have become incredibly effective at using data and interventions to address those deficiencies and are quickly gaining ground!

So last year it was #PirateRising. This year was #MovingMountains. Next year? Well you'll have to wait until August to find out!

We Still Have a Lot of Work to Do This Year!

Once we return from spring break, it seems as though the remaining weeks of the academic calendar quickly begin to evaporate. My message to the faculty and staff when they return from the break is to maintain their focus, keep their eye on the ball, and a foot on the gas all the way to the finish line. Admittedly though, it does get a bit tougher as the weather starts to warm up (any day now please), and the sun shines a bit longer in the evening. Even so, it is important to remind everyone that we still have a sizable amount of instruction left and a lot of learning to do. I don't think we realized how important that last quarter of the school year really was until March of 2020 when we didn't have it!

So then, this next week our testing window for ISASP opens and we will begin the statewide assessment. This is high stakes testing at its finest. Love it or hate it (let's be honest, no one loves it), the results of these tests make up a significant portion of our school ranking on the Iowa Performance Profile. And just so there's no confusion, our students knocked it out of the park last spring with both attendance centers ranking as Exceptional (K-6) and High Performing (7-12). My request for everyone is to make certain our students get plenty of sleep the night before the tests and a good breakfast that morning! Students, make sure you do your best!

Unfortunately the data collection doesn't end there. You should have recently received an invitation to complete the Conditions for Learning Survey. While our students will be completing this survey during the ISASP window, we also encourage our families to complete the survey as well. Building administrators sent the link out to this survey last week. I encourage you to check your inboxes and complete the survey; it provides us with valuable information to use in our improvement efforts. While I am hopeful that we don't end up creating survey fatigue, we have one more survey request in the hopper that I'll ask for your input. Next week you should see a survey come out regarding the high school renovation project. We are taking initial steps to determine if a referendum is in order and you input will help us navigate our path forward. We are requesting all residents complete this survey. 

There is no doubt about it: we are starting to run out of track when it comes to the 2021-2022 school year. But as you can see, much work remains. Concerts, track meets, awards assemblies: you name it, the calendar is becoming compressed as we march toward May 24! 

Keep working hard and enjoy this time of the school year. It will be gone before you know it!

FAPE

A Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). The simple elegance of this acronym truly encapsulates the promise of the American system of public education. It hearkens back to Thomas Jefferson's original vision when he proclaimed that 'we should educate and inform the whole masses of people...' Indeed he envisioned an arrangement of tuition free common schools that is the cornerstone of the system in place today. And our public schools do in fact educate and inform the whole masses of people. That means everyone, from all corners of society. A true melting pot where we have to learn to get along with, and learn from one another. Compromise, understand another persons point of view. You know, democracy.

Of course, it is not really free is it? While we don't charge tuition, there is no mistake that it takes a great deal of capital to make our public schools function. We rely on the goodwill and investment of our tax paying public to fund this enterprise. They have entrusted in us a great responsibility to realize and expand on Jefferson's vision. We are accountable to our public to ensure that we do indeed educate the whole masses of people. 

In my view, FAPE and the origins of our public school system fit like hand in glove. FAPE became the law of the land when signed by President Gerald Ford in 1975 and was referred to as (Public Law 94-142). It guaranteed the rights of every child in America to a free and appropriate public education, regardless of disability. In the intervening years it strengthened into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and continues to be a beacon of hope and pillar of stability for so many families. The bottom line of course is that as a public school system, we have both a moral and legal responsibility to educate every student in our district: no matter what. The child who has ADHD. Send them to us. How about the child who needs a full time nurse? Send them to us. What about the student who is wheelchair bound? Send them to us. What about the student who comes from a non-traditional home? Who is dyslexic and can't read? Who needs a feeding tube? Has behavior issues? The list is endless. 

But send them to us. 

Under the guise of 'choice', a current legislative proposal would allow parents of qualifying students to choose the school they feel best meets the needs of their family and child. The same proposal also allow these schools to choose as well. Choose their students that is. The consequences of such a huge policy shift have the potential to cause serious harm to our system of public schools in Iowa. The arguments against have been well documented and for the sake of time I won't list them all here, expect to point out the obvious flaw that public schools are bound by FAPE, nonpublic(s) are not. This allows them to pick and choose who they admit.

The legislative proposal explicitly states such:

10.a.This section shall not be construed to authorize the state or any political subdivision of the state to exercise any authority over any nonpublic school or construed to require a nonpublic school to modify its academic standards for admission or educational program in order to receive payment from a parent or guardian using funds from a pupil's account in the student first scholarship fund. b. This section shall not be construed to expand the authority of the state or any political subdivision of the state to impose regulations on any nonpublic school that are not necessary to implement this section. (page 17, SF 2369)

In other words, they don't have to follow, nor are they accountable for any of the provisions outlined in FAPE. 

A long time ago I used to work in a nonpublic school. As a first year administrator, I sat across the table from a family and told them no when they wanted to enroll their child in our school. We didn't have the staff, the capacity, or the equipment to meet the needs of this student. I felt terrible, and frankly am a bit embarrassed about the decision. But I knew the needs of the child were far beyond our means. Even had a voucher system been available it would have been woefully inadequate and the answer still would have been no. One has to also remember, the costs of educating a child with special needs is far greater than the state cost per pupil, and the laws and much of the revenue used to fund special education programs is governed by federal law. 

Fast forward to this year. IDEA requires an administrator to participate in the development of educational plans for students that qualify for special education. Because they 'hold the power of the purse strings', their role is to make the determination as to whether or not a service is educationally necessary. Generally, these administrators (often referred to as the LEA rep) have broad authority to make these decisions because of the FAPE requirements. In most school districts, the LEA rep is delegated to the building principal tasked with overseeing the implementation of the plan. As such, I rarely participate in these meetings.

This year though, because of some unique and challenging cases coupled with a labor shortage I have sat in on a few of these meetings. Participation in these meetings has reaffirmed a commitment to serving all students in our district, no matter what. It fulfills the promise of FAPE and the responsibility that has been vested in us by our tax paying public. 

Hearing the challenges some of our parents have to overcome has been at times heartbreaking. They often have to fight for every service and are often their child's only advocate. For certain they are their most important champion. Participation in these meetings has given me fresh perspective and greater empathy for the challenges they face. Following a recent meeting we wondered how we were going to solve the problems that had been presented. Problems that are only exacerbated by the fact that we are in a very tight labor market. My parting comment before leaving the room was that I didn't know. But we were going to move heaven and earth to meet this child's needs.

Now, if we are going to allow schools to pick and choose who they serve, how does that square with Jefferson's vision of educating the 'whole masses' of people?