On Tuesday, March 17th, there was a surreal energy throughout the whole school. The senior lounge was dark, the door locked. The cafeteria was near silent. Some middle school classrooms were set up for students to sit at individual tables in order to practice social distancing. Some classes were held for less than five students. Others ended halfway through.
The somber tone was broken by pockets of energy, classes taking advantage of the opportunity to engage as much as possible before going into indefinite isolation.
An energetic teacher-student ping pong tournament running alongside the 1990 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lit up the social studies hallway. Teachers and students were in and out of The world language department trying to complete a giant paper mache piñata before the end of the day.
These moments helped students have fun in the midst of all of the uncertainty.
Ten days later we know that we won’t be returning to school during the 2019-20 school year.
The state’s decision to close all Vermont public schools in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic has impacted students and families in a lot of different ways between difficulties with remote learning, economic impact, and mental health challenges.
Our goal on the Chronicle is to help maintain a sense of community as we work through this together, and to share resources and ideas to make this experience better for everyone.
Over the next months, the Chronicle would like to share the experiences of members of the U-32 community, collecting stories around 3 main questions:
- How has this impacted families and how are they making this work?
- What has remote learning looked like? What is working and what are some issues?
- How has isolation had an effect on the mental health of members of the community? How are people finding ways to have fun?
If you have anything you would like to share, please send your story to chronicle@wcsu32.org or reach out there and we’ll be happy to talk to you on the phone.
