School Matters Wk of 09/20/2021

I have heard for many years there was an old Chinese curse which stated, “May you live an interesting life.” I recently discovered this quote did not actually originate in China but probably came from a poor translation of another Chinese quote. It appears that a 19^th century author mistakenly made the translation, and the current wording better suited his purpose at that time. Some suspect the original statement may have been, “Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos.” Regardless of the source of this quote – it may be an appropriate statement for our times.

As you first read the quote, the majority of people would think it is a blessing. Many would interpret this quote as a good thing because you would have an interesting life full of excitement and adventure. However, too much excitement and adventure could easily turn into a disaster. Without much question, we are living in an interesting time. For many of us, these interesting times have turned out to be more of a challenge than excitement. It is my sincere hope that our “interesting life” level continues to go down over the next several weeks.

Please take a moment to review the following and contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We will respond to those concerns in our next article. Please email Mrs. Karlene Webb (webbk@hcboe.net) with any concerns or questions.

1. Our active case count continues to decline, and we are seeing fewer staff/students become infected. Last week our active case count was 73. This week our active case count is 65. This is the lowest our case count has been since the second week of school. Of our active cases this week, 58 are students and 7 are staff.

2. School will be closed October 11 – 15 for fall break. We hope everyone is able to enjoy a safe and relaxing fall break.

3. October 28 will be an early dismissal day. All schools will dismiss at 1:00 p.m. This early dismissal is part of the school calendar. We use this time for staff collaboration and analysis of benchmark data. This analysis allows us to identify academic areas needing attention so we know what the specific skills children are missing. This understanding will help us provide more surgical instruction in the classroom on the skills that are needed the most.

4. We have changed our October School Board meeting to October 19. Normally, our Board of Education meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month. We are out for fall break during that week so the meeting has been changed to October 19 at 6:00 p.m. in the Heritage Room. At our last meeting, the Board of Education elected a new chair and vice-chair. Mrs. Carolyn Holt Clawson was elected to be chair and Mr. Jim Grisby was elected vice-chair. We sincerely appreciate the leadership that Dr. Joe Gibson provided as past chair and Mr. Clyde Kinder as vice-chair.

It appears that some of the national models and predictions for the virus may have been true. It seems that the new Delta virus did run extremely hot, but it may have had a short run. Regardless if this proves to be true, we all need to do our part to limit the impact of the virus on our community. We will probably deal with the Coronavirus for the remainder of our lives, and it may be very similar to the flu. Different strains will occur in the future, and the virus will mutate. The vast majority of the data and research indicate that our best line of defense will be vaccinations. Keeping our staff, students, and community healthy is the most important element of keeping our schools open and effective. Thanks for your attention to this article and remember, School Matters!