Hope, Determination and Love

I've driven past the John B. Stanton School on the New London Turnpike for months reading their marquee: Hope, Determination, Love. It's more of a mission statement I think at this point than just a message. I don't recall when it was first posted but I'm guessing probably around the time the spring we never really had gave way to the summer we had in name only. 

And now, as the Labor Day weekend signals the unofficial end of that summer, in years past we'd already be knee-deep in our kids going back to school but that, too, has changed as the ripples in the pond from COVID-19 just seem to continue to the horizon and beyond. 

This time next week, Norwich Public Schools will be working as hard as they can to deliver world-class education to our children in a Brave New World environment that not even Aldous Huxley in his wildest fever dream could have ever imagined. 

Classes resume next Tuesday but this will be a back to school like no other. And depending on their last names, and the day of the week, our children will be in classrooms for instruction or will be learning remotely. 

When I typed that last line, I smiled because sitting at my keyboard, it reads so clear and organized, underscoring yet again that nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it.  For all of us whose school days are long gone in the rearview mirror, the logistics of returning to school should be cause for pause.

I recall stories last spring about the challenges facing not just our teachers and our school-children, but everyone's across the country (and around the world) as the time, talent, and treasure to continue to educate and to learn were stressed and strained as resources to do so were stretched too often to beyond capacity.

All the pandemic precautions undertaken last spring in every aspect of our lives were treading water and marking time as temporary stop-gaps, so to speak, while we waited for relief that hasn't materialized (and whose timetable is unknown, at least to me). And in spite, or perhaps, despite, all of the sheltering in place, social isolation, and physical distancing, we are now where we were when we began all of this. 

For parents with children in Norwich Public School students, you already know class sizes were large and many classrooms are small(ish) so the physical distancing (and let's not forget about the mask-wearing) will be perhaps daunting. You may feel there's not much you can do to help, but you'd be in error. 

The Norwich Public Schools Education Foundation is looking for donors to purchase picnic tables to be placed outdoors at every school for both students and staff so that throughout the day they can take a break while observing safety protocols. The target is to have ten tables at each of our schools but every little bit counts. Here's the link to help.

It's not as inspirational as Hope, Determination, and Love, but it's a start. And if each of us helps a little bit, at the end of the day, we've all helped a lot. 
-bill kenny