This week, Northshore School District in Washington State announced they are closed for up to 14 days in response to the COVID-19 Coronavirus. They communicated this on Wednesday night at 8:15pm and it was to be effective immediately. My initial reaction was frustration. Mostly because the communication came that close to the following day. I have friends who didn’t see the email until the morning of. With the majority of homes having two working parents or often times single working parents, this clearly presented an immediate hardship. As I read through the email, my head was spinning thinking about how my husband and I who both work full time outside the home would handle not only having our kids home for two weeks but also supporting them as “remote learners” for the duration.
I was overwhelmed.
Through frustration and being overwhelmed, I will say I completely support the decision that our Northshore Superintendent, Michelle Reid, made. Her decision was not made in a silo. Communications that parents have received make it clear she partnered with educators, labor boards, health departments, elected officials, peer school districts amongst others. Yet ultimately, it is Michelle who is looked to as owning the decision. I do not know her but I do know that her decision was based solely on what she sees to be in the best interest of the students and staff in her district. I am sure she was bombarded with opinions, medical facts and emotions and I guarantee she is getting a lot of flak for what may be the toughest decision of her career. This is also likely why they waited until the night before to send out the communication; because there were so many factors associated with the decision and it was not one that was taken lightly. I am not sure if Michelle Reid is a person of prayer but if she is, I am certain she prayed and is continuing to. A lot.
Is it better to be safe than sorry? I think the Northshore School District might be finding out. With positive cases of COVID-19 growing each day, I wonder if other school districts will follow suit. If schools start to see an increase in cases, will Northshore then be seen as the district willing to be safe over being sorry? Will our students ultimately be safer? While feedback is all over the map including that Northshore jumped the gun in making such an impactful decision, there is also a community of parents feeling some relief that their kids are not having increased exposure from daily interactions. Ultimately, we could end up being the district that is sorry parents were put in such a hardship for something that didn’t result in as large a threat as was thought. Unfortunately only time will tell but I am not sure we can ever say we are sorry that ultimate precaution was taken when it comes to our children’s health.
The question remains, how can working parents now handle their kids being unexpectedly home for 14 days while additionally supporting a remote learning environment? I am now three days into this journey and plan to share a glimpse into that.
Here at AllMomDoes, we have captured lots of tips on navigating at-home learning. We’d love to hear more from you!
Read more of Stephanie’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
