The Dream...

 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream for our country, and while his dream was related to equal rights and oppression, part of the intended message is to demonstrate that having a dream and working tirelessly to achieve it can be applied universally in society. We have come a long way over the years as a society, and while there is always room to grow, the world is clearly a better place. Dr. King was relentless in his pursuit of his dream, and it ultimately cost him his life. Equality, equity (which ever word you choose to use) doesn't mean that everyone has to think along the same lines or even believe in the same things. It means that we have to at least be open minded enough to hear an opposing viewpoint and be respectful enough to attempt to understand it. The art of respectfully disagreeing seems to have disappeared since the advent of social media. I am still hopeful that we as humans will continue to have empathy for each other and respect that conflict and disagreement are a fact of life, but does not mean that people have to hate each other or resort to negativity or hate. The single largest hurdle is when we as people fail to understand a whole story or more realistically have little to no facts on a topic, and just want to argue opinions. Opinions are allowed, but the dream is about attempting to understand others' opinions and seek to learn and understand the facts. Disagreement and even frustration are a natural part of life that as adults, you grow to understand and expect at times; but, we can all certainly continue to do a better job at understanding others' view points and respect that it's okay to disagree in a respectful way. Dr. King had a similar approach. He had a dream and if you truly look at it, yes he wanted equally and equity, but he knew that he couldn't get there without first getting people to see more than one perspective on the situation. Also within his legacy was his relentless pursuit of achieving his dream and helping others understand and respect opposing viewpoints. During this pivotal time in our society, it may be more important than ever to work together and attempt to understand other perspectives and facts while we pursue our individual dreams. As we work toward achieving our dreams, let's not forget the dreams of Dr. King as we continue to strive to make his dream come true, while fulfilling our purpose in society. Achieving our own dreams is admirable, working to help others achieve their dreams transcends all and is the paramount definition of education.   

Return to Hybrid Learning

Throughout the last week, school staff (administration and school nurses) have been working on our return to hybrid learning. This past week, the district has had a set back with regard to staff being available due to illness and/or quarantine. With numbers hovering as they are, several of our nurses feel it is prudent to test students and staff prior to reopening in school. In this situation, knowing that there are no right answers or wrong concerns, we have looked at this and it has been decided to delay the return to hybrid learning 1 additional week until Monday, February 1, 2021. This will allow a little more time for folks to be removed from quarantine and returns to school at the start of the second semester. The main goal is to return at a time when we will not have to worry about a start and stop type of calendar due to illness and quarantine, and have a better understanding of who may or may not be sick through the testing process.  

Hybrid Schedule Changes

When school resumes with hybrid learning, there will be a slightly adjusted schedule. The State Education Department has recently been reviewing school schedules throughout the state to ensure that they are rigorous enough to comply to the minimum instructional hours requirements. Although they relaxed this requirement in August, recent communications indicate that they are expecting more than what many schools are providing. That being said, when our hybrid schedule resumes, Wednesday's will no longer be a complete virtual day and will instead be a full instructional day for Cohorts A and B. Each cohort will rotate in-person attendance on Wednesday meaning that every other week, students will be in-person for 3 days throughout the week. A schedule detailing this change will be shared this week.  

Testing Process

This week, the district will be releasing both our testing protocol document and our form for signing up for testing time at a school. Testing will occur during the week of January 25, 2021 and is completely voluntary. We will need to test 20% of staff and students that attend in-person learning during that week. As long as the positivity rate is below the regional rate, we will not need to continue testing in order to keep kids in the building. The only thing that will change this process will be if the Governor reclassifies Rome as an orange or red zone prior to January 25.

The Future

As the calendar rolls over to a new year, so does the planning process and budget finalization. In a normal year, schools are finalizing their plans for the following September at this time of year. Last year, we were all told that the year was going to have to be different and given a set of rules in July to redesign everything in 2 weeks. This year, it's possible that we face the same thing. As I have been saying since August of last year, the best way for a school to function is to allow all students to attend school 5 days a week, wearing masks, with the understanding that social distancing will not be perfect. That's my personal feeling on the topic. However, I don't make the rules and as long as the government and SED are going to require social distancing in school, school is going to be hybrid simply due to the math. What we don't know is what will allow social distancing requirements in classrooms to be eased. What we do know is that the vaccine does not eliminate the requirement to quarantine due to exposure, eliminate mask wearing, nor eliminate the social distancing requirements. One bit of good news is that President-Elect Biden has publicly said he wants schools fully open within 100 days. That is outstanding news, although no details were provided on how that was going to be made possible.  Regardless, social distancing requirements that are placed on schools is the main barrier that we need to hope is relaxed. Hopefully we are all given some information about what to expect for the future, well before the month of August this year. Stay tuned everyone...