April 21, 2020
Celebrating our new normal, and hoping for the normal we love
By Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth
Bandera ISD Superintendent
On Friday, March 6, Bandera ISD closed for spring break not realizing how our world was about to change. That week, there was certainly a lot of talk and news coverage about CoViD-19, but there was no consensus that what has become a nation-wide closure of schools was right around the corner. The following Friday, our district (along with many others throughout the state), announced an extension of our closure for one more week. It was during that first week of closure that I witnessed our amazing school community spring into action.
On the first Monday of our extended closure (March 16), our Nutrition Services department prepared and fed several hundred of our students who might not have otherwise had breakfast or lunch that day. They seamlessly transitioned from feeding our students in the cafeteria to a massive drive-through operation. Their work continued through that first week and has not stopped. Because of their commitment to ensuring that all students would have nutritious meals at home, hundreds of our students have been able to continue learning. Teachers know that you can’t learn if you’re hungry.
The core work on the “learning side” of our district has been no less impressive. In the first week of closure, our team created a “Learning@Home” page on our website that allowed our families to quickly begin to provide meaningful and worthwhile learning activities for students. This webpage didn’t just provide families with a list of a few online resources, it was a highly organized, easy-to-navigate page with resources organized by grade-level and subject area, specific to elementary, middle, or high school instruction.
By the beginning of our second week of closure (March 23), our district had created a set of at-home lessons that were engaging and tailored to the needs of kids across the district. Not only did they create online lessons, they created paper packets for families without good internet or computer access at home. That same week, I heard stories of our lessons being shared with a principal in the Pacific Northwest. Also, I heard of students in other states going on the Bandera ISD website to be able to continue learning at home since their own districts had not yet provided anything for them.
Bandera ISD has worked diligently to help our families without good computer or internet access at home. Partnering with Bandera Electric Cooperative (BEC), we have seen many families get internet access at home where it wasn’t available before. Additionally, our staff have created multiple opportunities for families to check out a Chromebook laptop so students would be able to more easily access learning resources at home. We are in the process of transitioning to delivering instruction to all of our 2240 students through electronic means--one that eliminates the need for paper packets.
As all of these things have come together on a district-wide scale, our teachers and staff have continued to provide the personalized touch that makes our small-town district exceptional. Hundreds of phone calls have been made home to our families to make sure that students have what they need to learn. Many of those calls have been focused on simply asking, “How are you doing?”, or “What can we do to help you and your family?” Additionally, principals, teachers and other staff have learned to master the use of Zoom meetings or Google Hangouts to meet with entire classes of kids, or to meet with colleagues to create lessons.
Counselors are working “virtually” one-on-one with students who may be struggling emotionally with our new normal. Special education teachers and specialists are finding new ways to provide the individualized help that students need as they’re at home.
As impressive as our staff have been, our students and their families have been the very best of partners. Moms, dads, grandparents, and older siblings have taken on the role of teacher, counselor, and principal. They have set up classrooms in their homes and checked up on our students’ progress on a daily, even hourly, basis. They have patiently watched how-to videos and shared with one another words of encouragement and teaching tips. All the while, they have maintained their own work schedules and made sure there was milk in the fridge. They’ve been incredible.
In short, in three short weeks our staff, our families, and our community have worked together to transform the way we learn. Make no mistake, we’re all ready to go back to school--to see the students we love, the colleagues who are our friends, and the families who support BISD in countless ways. We’re ready to go to concerts, plays, track meets, debate tournaments, and baseball games. We’re ready to shake hands at the front door of our buildings and give “high fives” to celebrate when students finally master a new concept. We’re ready to return to the schools we love.
Am I proud? That doesn’t begin to capture how I feel about the work of our team, our students, and our families. From the time our family made the decision to come to this beautiful part of Texas almost two years ago, we knew we had come to a special place. Never has that been more true than in the past few weeks.
On the first Monday of our extended closure (March 16), our Nutrition Services department prepared and fed several hundred of our students who might not have otherwise had breakfast or lunch that day. They seamlessly transitioned from feeding our students in the cafeteria to a massive drive-through operation. Their work continued through that first week and has not stopped. Because of their commitment to ensuring that all students would have nutritious meals at home, hundreds of our students have been able to continue learning. Teachers know that you can’t learn if you’re hungry.
The core work on the “learning side” of our district has been no less impressive. In the first week of closure, our team created a “Learning@Home” page on our website that allowed our families to quickly begin to provide meaningful and worthwhile learning activities for students. This webpage didn’t just provide families with a list of a few online resources, it was a highly organized, easy-to-navigate page with resources organized by grade-level and subject area, specific to elementary, middle, or high school instruction.
By the beginning of our second week of closure (March 23), our district had created a set of at-home lessons that were engaging and tailored to the needs of kids across the district. Not only did they create online lessons, they created paper packets for families without good internet or computer access at home. That same week, I heard stories of our lessons being shared with a principal in the Pacific Northwest. Also, I heard of students in other states going on the Bandera ISD website to be able to continue learning at home since their own districts had not yet provided anything for them.
Bandera ISD has worked diligently to help our families without good computer or internet access at home. Partnering with Bandera Electric Cooperative (BEC), we have seen many families get internet access at home where it wasn’t available before. Additionally, our staff have created multiple opportunities for families to check out a Chromebook laptop so students would be able to more easily access learning resources at home. We are in the process of transitioning to delivering instruction to all of our 2240 students through electronic means--one that eliminates the need for paper packets.
As all of these things have come together on a district-wide scale, our teachers and staff have continued to provide the personalized touch that makes our small-town district exceptional. Hundreds of phone calls have been made home to our families to make sure that students have what they need to learn. Many of those calls have been focused on simply asking, “How are you doing?”, or “What can we do to help you and your family?” Additionally, principals, teachers and other staff have learned to master the use of Zoom meetings or Google Hangouts to meet with entire classes of kids, or to meet with colleagues to create lessons.
Counselors are working “virtually” one-on-one with students who may be struggling emotionally with our new normal. Special education teachers and specialists are finding new ways to provide the individualized help that students need as they’re at home.
As impressive as our staff have been, our students and their families have been the very best of partners. Moms, dads, grandparents, and older siblings have taken on the role of teacher, counselor, and principal. They have set up classrooms in their homes and checked up on our students’ progress on a daily, even hourly, basis. They have patiently watched how-to videos and shared with one another words of encouragement and teaching tips. All the while, they have maintained their own work schedules and made sure there was milk in the fridge. They’ve been incredible.
In short, in three short weeks our staff, our families, and our community have worked together to transform the way we learn. Make no mistake, we’re all ready to go back to school--to see the students we love, the colleagues who are our friends, and the families who support BISD in countless ways. We’re ready to go to concerts, plays, track meets, debate tournaments, and baseball games. We’re ready to shake hands at the front door of our buildings and give “high fives” to celebrate when students finally master a new concept. We’re ready to return to the schools we love.
Am I proud? That doesn’t begin to capture how I feel about the work of our team, our students, and our families. From the time our family made the decision to come to this beautiful part of Texas almost two years ago, we knew we had come to a special place. Never has that been more true than in the past few weeks.