Republic school superintendent Chance Wistrom believes a statewide shutdown of schools provides needed “clarity” to educators. Governor Mike Parson announced Thursday that all schools in Missouri will remain closed through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.
“It basically verified what we all felt was inevitable as different states throughout the nation shut down schools for the remainder of the year,” Wistrom said. “We all felt like this decision was coming. Frankly, I appreciate knowing. This way, we can make long-range plans for virtual platforms to support students and family this year.”
Wistrom said schools have been forced to divide their attention between transitioning to “virtual learning” for students and making contingency plans for what might be changing in the next few weeks.
“There was so much sideways energy being wasted on … contingency planning, and now we at least have some direction and we can eliminate some of that sideways energy that was dedicated to what we do if we come back in a week or two weeks or four weeks,” he said. “Now we know we can devote those energies to planning for the current environment.”
That current environment, for the foreseeable future, will be the online learning initiatives the district put in place two weeks ago.
“I don’t think it changes anything short term, other than it allows everyone to make plans … so that our teachers can continue to prepare and dialogue with students, and families can know this is what school is going to look like through May 21,” Wistrom said.
Even though the last several weeks of the school year will not include a return to classrooms, Wistrom encouraged staff members to keep sight of the district’s top priority.
“Our first priority, and we share it at the beginning of each year, is taking care of our students and taking care of each other,” he said. “I have absolutely been humbled by the way in which our staff has stepped up and taken care of our students and taken care of their peers.”
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When the district began its online learning initiative, Wistrom said it would be a “learning experience,” and nearly two weeks in, that learning is already taking place.
“We’ve learned a lot as to how best to communicate – the platforms that are most conducive to supporting students and families, as well as the amount of content,” he said. “In terms of content … we’ve had some really neat conversations, because feel so passionately that so much should be covered, yet they have to parcel some of that out. There’s been some lively debate about what should be included or removed so we don’t overwhelm folks.”
Weekly collaboration meetings, which had already been taking place on Fridays district-wide, are now taking place online and have become even more important as staff members learn what is working and what isn’t in an entirely new environment.
“Every discussion revolves around what works, what can we do better, and what is an outstanding activity or process that we need to continue to grow,” he said.
In addition to online classwork, Wistrom said he’s been most impressed with school staff’s efforts to meet “social and emotional needs” of students.
“It has happened in ways perhaps I didn’t anticipate, he said. “Teachers have acknowledged certain milestones such as birthdays with students, or … have recognized that students have missed events they’ve really worked hard for – from high school athletics to fifth grade presentations to spring musicals.”
Beyond the end of this school year, Wistrom said the next thing he hopes for is direction on the future of summer school in Missouri.
“There is a tremendous amount of time allocated in developing the logistics of summer school when we aren’t even really sure if we’ll be able to have it, what it will look like, and what will be the timing,” he said.
But for now, Wistrom is glad to have more assurance of what the next several weeks will look like – as much as that’s possible in the current situation.
“The communication vacuum has been filled. We know exactly what the near future looks like,” he said. “But what I’ve learned through this ordeal is no plans are final. The plan at this point is to continue the current course, but continue to gather feedback and learn how to do what we are currently doing better.”