School Matters Week of 08/30/2021

One of the most common attributes that the majority of us may share right now is that we are all tired. The last 18 months have been long, difficult, and heavy. We have seen multiple family members, colleagues, and friends become infected and experience serious medical complications. We have all worked in extreme environments where the challenges have been many, while some of the rewards have proven to be few. Many individuals are on the struggle bus, and it seems to be stopping at every new challenge. There have been few opportunities to catch our breath because every time we solve one problem, there seems to be another challenge ready to take its place.

The existence of the virus has helped introduce a number of new words and concepts into our common day language. Few of us used social distancing, quarantining, vaccinations, self-isolation, herd immunity, community spread, contact tracing, and flattening the curve in our daily conversations prior to the virus. However, it is now difficult to exit a conversation without one of these terms emerging as a topic. Recently, I heard another term which I thought was interesting. My wife read an article earlier in the week which focused on “compassion fatigue.” The article discussed the stress, pressure, and burden which has been placed on our health care workers and how it has impacted their ability to demonstrate the same level of compassion as they did before the virus. Although the article primarily talked about nurses, it also referred to first responders, law enforcement, and educators.

The vast majority of educators are truly committed and dedicated to the profession of teaching. We have entered teaching as a calling and want to help children be successful. We constantly go out of our way to create those unique set of circumstances where a child with no chance of success – has that chance. Teachers are much like a candle because they must often consume themselves to give light to others. Without reservation or hesitation, we make a number of sacrifices to provide the necessary supports for children to grow and mature. Compassion fatigue becomes an issue when all those efforts are compromised by external sources such as state level mandates or a pandemic. Many of our teachers are fatigued because they must work much harder, with fewer tangible results, because of the negative impact of the virus. It seems that no matter how much we give – it simply takes more to help students remain proficient. It is also frustrating when students are quarantined, students become sick, or our educators must leave the classroom because a family member has tested positive. It is difficult to help a child succeed when they are not in a classroom.

I think most public-school administrators have also experienced a considerable amount of compassion fatigue over the last several months. I am relatively familiar with the constant criticism and abuse that is often placed on school superintendents. This is part of the job, and no one should even consider this job if they cannot shoulder this burden. In addition, I do not mind the additional workload associated with the pandemic because this too is part of my job. There are easy days and there are difficult days, but superintendents must endure all of them.

My source of fatigue has not come from any of those sources because I have grown accustomed to carrying that load. My fatigue comes from the fact that we have so few options to meet the needs of all students/families this year, and there are so few compromises which can balance the needs of everyone during a pandemic. Most of the decisions we have been forced to make this year are not mutually beneficial solutions. Every decision that we have made this year would potentially benefit one segment of the school population while it may create a heavy burden for another group. For example, we could help a group of parents if we significantly reduced the number of students quarantined. However, another group of parents, or staff members, may have medically compromised health conditions, and allowing more potentially infected students to remain in the classroom is not a good option. Sending less quarantined children home will allow more students to benefit from direct instruction in the classroom, but it will also increase the chances of additional outbreaks.

Constantly balancing the need for in-class instruction, protecting the safety of staff/students in the classroom, and serving the health/economic needs of our community require diametrical solutions. What benefits one group may devastate another group. We never held the notion that we could please everyone or that we would find that perfect solution. We also understand there will be no silver bullets which solve all our problems. We struggle with the fact that many of our decisions this year, regardless of the direction we take, will produce negative results for so many stakeholders. The inability to make mutually beneficial decisions and lacking the necessary resources to keep all students safe is the greatest source of my fatigue. It would not be as difficult if we did not really care. However, we do possess a deep compassion for helping students, and it consumes so much of our reserves when there are so few viable options to keep everyone safe.

To help illustrate this point, we will use the example of virtual education. Although virtual education was not perfect last year, it did provide us with an option for students who were medically unable to attend school in person. Some other school districts attended school virtually all year, and the state was extremely dissatisfied with that approach. It is my opinion this dissatisfaction, in conjunction with the ineffectiveness of some districts’ virtual programming, led the State Board to create policy which effectively eliminated the virtual education option. The state basically eliminated that option for many of us by placing so many staffing and financial restrictions on virtual programming this year. We can provide virtual instruction in specific cases (when students are quarantined or when they are in an alternative program), but we do not have the legal authority to provide virtual education like we did in the past.

In addition, issuing a mask mandate is now impractical with the issuance of the Governor’s executive order. We fully understand there are a multitude of opinions on masks, but many considered that to be a tool to help stop the spread of the virus. We no longer have that tool if we thought it would be beneficial. It is more difficult to social distance this year because we do not have 20% of our students enrolled in virtual education. We cannot implement a virtual program because of the state restrictions. All these factors come together to create extremely challenging times for us.

Perhaps the greatest fatigue factor could be summarized by two phone calls that I received this week. The first call was one angry parent whose child was quarantined at the beginning of school because he was identified as a close contact. The child isolated for the appropriate time and came back to school. He was then identified as a close contact on his first day back and did not make it through lunch before being sent home again. His mother is a single working mom with virtually no family support. In addition, her child was struggling with many academic challenges and desperately needed to be in school. The child was in second grade, and his mother was concerned her child was never going to learn to read in this type of environment. She also expressed concerned that she was about to lose her job because she had to stay home during the day. At this point, the child has never tested positive.

The next call was from another angry parent who believed we were not correctly identifying enough students as close contacts. She believed that we were intentionally ignoring many of the close contacts because we were reluctant to send so many students home. She was concerned that the virus would have fertile ground for spreading with so many students in her child’s classroom. She had the time and ability to educate her child at home, if necessary, but she demanded that we take the extra precautions and send more students home. She was also concerned that the teachers and other students should not be exposed to the potential danger of leaving an infected student in the classroom.

I reflected on both conversations. Both parents had legitimate arguments, and I could easily follow the logic espoused by both of them. I suspect a person’s stance on which direction to take would be greatly impacted by his or her personal situation. I am confident that there is no absolute answer. There appears to be many in the community who do have the right answer, and they are confident in their beliefs. They could make a decision without any problem because they could never see the other viewpoint. They are so focused on what would benefit their own personal situation that they have little empathy or sympathy for others.

I have never hesitated to make difficult decisions, and it appears there will be multiple opportunities to continue making those types of decisions this year. I will take full responsibility for those decisions if they go wrong and give recognition to others when something works. I pray every day for the wisdom to make the best decision, and I sincerely appreciate all those who are supportive of the school district. I suspect there will be decisions which prove to be in error, but I am confident all decisions will be based on what I think is best for staff and students.

These are difficult times, and I see that anger and frustration are at an all-time high. Many are attempting to scream the loudest to convince others of their point of view. In these difficult days, it may be time to turn down the volume a little and attempt to see the view of others. Instead of constant abuse, criticism, and frustration, it may be more productive to reach out to others and find as much common ground as we can. Without that, we will simply struggle with each other as we continue to wear down from the battle. It may be more to our advantage to seek to understand than simply force others to understand us.

We will continue to make difficult decisions, and one of my core values remains to base all decisions on what is best for staff and students—not what is politically advantageous, what is the most popular at the time, or what would benefit me the most. We will keep staff and students at the heart of all decisions.

It was a particularly brutal day in the office last week, and I decided to visit some schools. I walked into one elementary classroom, and the teacher did not notice that I had entered. Her energy level emanated such a positive attitude. She smiled the entire time and was so focused on teaching that nothing negative was permitted to enter her personal space. I could tell, without question, that she loved those children and was born to teach. There were no thoughts of masks, isolation, or quarantines. She was not worried about the current political debates or what was best for her. She had a mission to teach, and she was solely focused on her children. Those few minutes in her room restored my soul. There was no compassion fatigue in that room, and it had a tremendous impact on me. As I left that classroom, I thought what a world this would be if everyone possessed that spirit. What if all of us decided to have that level of energy and focus on helping others? This is not isolated to the school system, but it permeates all aspects of our community. We are all tired and worn down, but we still have the opportunity, and perhaps the obligation, to restore others. Now, more than ever, is the time to move beyond our own personal needs and search for ways to help those around us. By extending that helping hand, we can start a small cycle of good which can be perpetuated for an extended period of time. Thanks for your attention to this article, and remember, School Matters!