Next step? Extended Closure. (Day 18/31 #sol20)

We were stuck in between decisions there for awhile. Stuck in that muddiness that exists between clear choices. Will school be on or off after Spring Break? What’s the “right” thing to do? Do we even have a say in the matter? What will everything look like? How do you do distance learning with young children? It was really easy to slip down your own personal rabbit hole of worry – especially given the environment of isolation we’ve all got going on.

Information was changing by the day, if not by the hour. Honestly, it hasn’t even been a week and I feel like it’s been a month! Remember when we were all concerned about the time change, the full moon, and Friday the 13th?! Forever ago.

Anyway. I digress.

Today we learned that our district and our neighboring district will have an Extended School Closure until April 17th. The decision was made. Done. Now we know. Now we release that rope.

What our next steps are to support ourselves and our school families after Spring Break, we still don’t know. We’ll figure that out together (remotely together!) in a week or so. But you know what? Being able to still connect and talk about these challenging new times will make all the difference in the world. Can you imagine actually having to go through changes like this all alone? I’m so very grateful for my community and colleagues. ❤️

Video conferences are tomorrow and Friday, and then we’re on break. I’ve been socially and physically distancing myself all day long, preparing for conferences, and staying glued to my email so that I can check in with questioning families. Ya know… finding that balance between alone and together. Turns out, that sense of “being in school” still remains, so I know we can’t be too far away from what we know. Our people are still out there, and we can still stay in touch and stay connected. Kids are still questioning their way through their worlds, authors are still reaching out to students, and teachers are still thinking about how to best support their students’ learning. That all sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it?

Now that we’re on to the next step of Extended Closure, we can really get down to the business of strengthening connections from afar. We’re gonna need it, every step of the way, for all of those muddy unknown spaces that await us. ❤️