A Need for Grace

 

Here we are!  It’s the first week of the 2020-2021 school year for the scholars of Selma City Schools. It’s the first week that Team Selma’s teachers are engaging our scholars through 100% remote learning.  It’s the first week of our reopening schools during a world-wide pandemic. Wow. 

 

Where we are usually very confident and secure in our plans and abilities to provide top notch instruction and support, this year comes with many unknowns.  For that reason, we are asking for your patience and especially for your grace in the coming weeks.  We have reminded ourselves throughout the past few months that we are embarking in an endeavor that has never been done before.  At least not in our lifetime.

 

Never have educators been tasked with the enormous responsibility of providing safe, equitable and effective teaching and learning during a pandemic that is has taken the lives of over 170,000 Americans.  When I let that sink in, I can feel my pulse rise with nervousness.  I feel and understand the anxiety that many of our teachers and leaders are grappling with. 

 

During the upcoming weeks, all educators need one thing above all else.  We need grace.  We need for our families and the entire community to understand that we love our babies and we would much rather start the school year out in a traditional, face-to-face manner. 

 

Our teachers, leaders and staff have worked tirelessly in an effort to ensure that our scholars truly do Return to Excellence this week.  Their commitment has not been in vain.  Or at least I don’t believe it has.  Even if you do not personally have children in our district, we want you to know and understand that Team Selma is ready and we committed.

 

We are ready for a school year like no other.  As we continue to monitor the Covid-19 community spread and other data points, we look forward to welcoming our scholars back to school soon.  In the meantime, we are super excited to engage in remote and virtual learning knowing that it will not be perfect.  Somedays it may not even be ideal.

 

So back to the need for grace.  Yes, school like many aspects of our daily life, may never look the same again.  Regardless, we have jobs to do and we will do them by embracing our core values of teamwork, equity, joy and integrity.  Most important we will keep students first and strive relentlessly to meet the needs of all our scholars and families.

 

If we get it wrong, show us some grace and know that we will fix it as swiftly as possible.  After all, excellence is also one of our core values.  Make no mistake.  We are in it to win it for our scholars and families.  I thank you in advance for your grace and invite you to support Team Selma now even more than the past.  Check us out on social media or reach out to a school near you.

 

For more information, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org

Equity During a Pandemic

 

In education, every year we push out a number of buzz words.  We then use these words or phrases over and over again.  We frame our work around them.  We align our data dives to match them.  We promote our successes with them in mind.  If this was a live conference or workshop for educators, I would ask participants to name the various buzz words and phrases that have come and gone during their career.  There would be many.

 

While I won’t predict their responses, I would not expect equity to be one of the words.  At least not yet.  Although used frequently, educational equity is more important now than ever.  During this pandemic, educators and other leaders have had the opportunity to consider our work around equity and to redefine what it means for our scholars and families.

 

Fellow educator, Erika Garcia stated that “Equity isn’t handing a kid a laptop.  It’s knowing the systemic conditions that led to the lack of the laptop and working to mitigate them.”  This statement is so true. We can interchange the word laptop for internet connectivity, nutritional meals, quality health care and the list could go on and on.

 

Equity is a core value for Selma City Schools.  For us it means a focus on removing barriers that impede the success of our scholars.  The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that this emphasis is more important than ever.

 

As we embark on reopening schools through full remote and virtual learning, we know that there will be challenges that are beyond our control.  Yet we will be intentional in identifying and addressing the challenges that we can impact while providing information to families about services and other supports that we may not be able to provide directly.

 

One thing that we are committed to is helping to support our working families, single parents and others who struggle with quality child care during school hours.  This week our community partners can expect to hear from Courtney Washington, our community engagement specialist.  She will share the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that our board of education recently approved.

 

This MOU will serve as an agreement between our school district and participating churches, businesses, civic groups and others who want to help.  The help will include providing child care and support for our scholars during virtual learning.  In the coming weeks, we will provide a list of community organizations that have agreed to participate in this effort.

 

We are excited to be able to call on our village to support our families in need.  We encourage all families to make the necessary arrangements so that your children will be cared for during the school day.  This service will be for those who absolutely need it in order to continue working.

 

Equity during a pandemic does look different.  Team Selma is up for the challenge and we hope that you will join us.

 

For more information, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org