We are all feeling decision fatigue and anxiety as we face a new school year. Worse yet, decision-makers are raked over the coals for whatever decision they make, teachers are being picked apart for every attempt at instruction they made last spring, and parents are concerned that whatever school looks like in the fall won’t meet the unique needs of their kids.
As we weigh all our options with a critical eye, it’s easy to forget one really important thing. Teachers and administrators genuinely love our kids. They all have an immensely important job that is absolutely impossible right now. And as they make the decisions they need to make, prepare for the new school year (whether in-person or online), and work tirelessly to set up supports for all the students in their charge, we need to remember that their concerns mirror ours. They, too, are concerned about their students’ physical and emotional health. They’re worried about the at-risk students slipping through the cracks. They can’t bear the thought of the students for whom school was their primary safe place. They think about the kids with IEPs and how remote learning is about as far from ideal as you can get.
It’s easy to forget that when we’re in the thick of worry, so when we see fun things from administrators trying to get through this ridiculously trying time, it’s a breath of fresh air – and a reminder that they’re human, too, and just trying to do right by our kids.
Skyler Rodolph is the Principal at Ninety-One School in Oregon’s Canby School District. He put out a fantastically hilarious “Hamilton” parody to offer some laughs as we face down a new school year.
With lines like:
- “You cried…’Don’t make us do that gain in the fall or we just might die.'”
- “You’ll be back…soon you’ll see, try to remember how school used to be. You’ll be back…time will tell. Just remember that we teach kids well. COVID cases rise, we need them to fall, if we’re going to be in person at all.”
- “You’ll be back…not like before. You’ll have to wear a mask walking through the door.”
- “We’ll do whatever it takes to teach you, because you’re the ones we love.”
It’s so cute and such a fantastic reminder that, as parents, we’re all in this together. We’re not fighting against our schools, teachers, and administrators. We’re fighting with them.
We’re all fighting COVID-19 together.
Watch the full video below.
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