School, for the year of 2020 at least, has become anything but normal. With everything that has happened in the last six months, going back to school in the traditional way was inevitably impossible. This has caused people to go out and find another way. Most public schools are currently all online. But what does that mean for students? For high schoolers it most likely means sitting somewhere in your house in front of a computer, logging on whenever you are required to, but for the younger kids in our district what does their version of school look like?
“Everyone comes to my house between 7:15-8:00am, they start their WebEx morning meeting by 8:10. Then they’ve got small reading groups, webex live meetings for reading and math in particular, then there’s independent work. [Followed by] 30 minutes of recess slash snack time, more independent work for another Webex live mass meeting, and then it’s lunch and more outside time. [After] we cut and there is a little bit of a lull and you get a special so you get to go to “library” one week or “art” in the afternoon and then we’ll have more independent work and they’re usually done by about three o’clock,” Victoria Savich said.
Savich, along with being a mother to a sophmore, seventh grader and a first grader in the district, has been a teacher for the past twenty years. Like most working parents she was faced with the challenge of figuring out how she would be able to work and help her kids with school. She decided not to return to teaching this year, and help others in the community by opening her home up and teaching five other students.
“It was something I’d just been kind of thinking about over the summertime when I heard people’s concerns and worries like “What am I going to do, I have to work full time, I knew there was definitely a need within the community,” Savich said.
However some students do not have the opportunity to learn in this type of environment, where there are other kids their age and an adult there to help keep them on track and make sure all of their needs are being met.
“I feel bad for the other kiddos I know that are by themselves at their house in their bedroom…I think about it and my heart just breaks, because I know there are so many kids who are so isolated and dont have the support like they have here,” Savich said.
Although these students are not in the typical classroom setting of learning with their peers in class, playing together out at recess, and going on field trips like most people think of and are accustomed to, they still have the support system and schedule of a regular classroom.
“It’s so not normal, but this is their new normal. And I’m just trying to give them small pieces of enjoyment and happiness and just let them kind of be a kid, you know, and all while still trying to maintain their rigorous schedule,” Savich said.
Overall, in a crazy year like this one, being able to adapt to the ever-changing situation while staying positive is key.
“Yeah, like I said, I just don’t think there’s any right answer or right decision at this point in time, but I think the most important thing is that we just keep our kiddos safe in our community and just get rid of this stinking coronavirus.” Savich said.