Wednesday, September 11, 2024
By James Card
In the conclusion to the Waupaca County Post’s two-part article on the Waupaca School Board, the candidates discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, the district’s response and the impact that it had on education.
Ben Warren: The implications of lost education due to the pandemic will likely linger for years. We learned that there are divisions in our community, but also that we can adapt and persevere. We learned that while we can educate remotely, it doesn’t work equitably. We learned that when teachers taught in person, virtually, and on demand, that we were asking too much. Covid burnout is causing teachers to leave the profession in record numbers around the country. We must do more to support our teaching staff.
The school board did a great job being malleable, constantly reevaluating and keeping schools open as the pandemic changed. Switching the masking decisions to a medical board was smart, but those meetings should have been more transparent. We need better communication from all parties involved when it comes to the health and safety of our kids.
Kayla Van Dyke-Griena: We learned that snow days are not necessary when you can do virtual learning, the bygone days of yore are truly gone . . . Silliness aside, as a nurse and parent of students in the district I was thankful for the hard work the Waupaca school district (WSD) staff did throughout the last two years to keep our kids safe and educated.
This hard work allowed our children to stay in school and follow somewhat normal routines during this unprecedented time. From leaving pandemic related precaution decisions up to the medical advisory team, weekly updates from administration, to teachers working extra hard to ensure our kids stayed on track with learning, I believe there was so much right done by the WSD.
In a lot of ways there was no way of knowing whether things were going to get much worse so we prepared for the worst and hoped for the best even if it seemed like too much at the time. On the other hand, I know of parents who struggled with childcare when their kids were forced to quarantine for close contact exposures and student’s who struggled with remote learning. A parent guide with resources to help work through some of these complicated issues would have been beneficial.
Ron Brooks: With regards to the Covid pandemic, it seems that this has mostly become an issue of “to mask or not to mask.” I am not in favor of mandates in any way shape or form. I cherish and appreciate the freedoms that I enjoy in this country and will follow and uphold any laws that are deemed fair and necessary by my elected officials. Mandates in most cases are overreaching attempts at power or control meant to force individuals to conform to an arbitrary set of rules. It is truly sad that this is a question that even has to be answered in this country and that it has created this massive, mostly political divide in our community and our country. If you and your family feel safer and more comfortable wearing a mask, by all means do so, but this does not give you the right to impose your fears or beliefs upon others.
Dale Feldt: I think everyone can agree that the pandemic had a negative impact on education. Not only did it create a learning gap, but it contributed to mental health issues. The pandemic also exposed how politicized our society has become. We experience conflicting demands from different groups of parents and community members and the school district was caught in the middle. It seemed no decision we made could achieve a reasonable balance.
I recognized that the presence of critics didn’t negate what we were doing. Respectfully and empathetically listening to differing points of view was important to me. Regardless of the issues the board faced, we always focused on what is best for students. This has to be the forefront of any conversation. It seems obvious to think of students first.
I believe we learned a lot and did a lot of things correctly. For example, we had a focus on communication and held a series of monthly stakeholder meetings to receive input from people as well as to share information.
There was a huge focus on collaboration amongst the administrative team and their guidance helped keep everyone safe. We have an outstanding administration team that worked many extra hours keeping the district moving forward. This team had the vision of putting a Chrome book in students’ hands even before the pandemic. They also kept pushing forward by helping to complete our strategic plan. With this type of planning our district is debt free and is able to maintain our current building. We are able to continue to improve our curriculums and security in our buildings.
Our staff has work so many hours learning how to teach on line, developing new lessons and developing innovative ways to teach those lessons. They continue to give extra hours working with students that need help. We need to respect what our educators have done and thank each one of them for teaching here in Waupaca.
Our support staff, buildings and grounds crews, custodians, and lunch people continue to keep our buildings safe and clean. Lunches were still served and delivered even when school was virtual! Our buildings have state-of-the-art ionizer systems that clean the air every five minutes.
I said it in the first question; this district is only as strong as the team that runs it. In my opinion we have a team that is like no other.
We learned that engagement and success with remote learning is very difficult and not for everyone. This is why it was fortunate that our schools remained open. Our team of school nurses, administration, consulting doctor from ThedaCare, and others met continuously, monitoring the Covid cases in our community and school. The school board realized this was a fluid situation and asked this group to make decisions based on the safety in attending school and the measures it took to keep those people safe.
We continue to go over what worked and what did not. The board is planning several linkage meetings to gather information from different groups in the community. One topic may be what they perceive we did right and what could have been done differently.
The board did approve the hiring of two teacher interventionists. These people will work on helping to close the gap in learning for those students that are behind. We are also hiring a dean of students to address the increase in negative behaviors at the high school. We want to support those students that are having difficulty adjusting to the school environment. This will free up our principals to help support staff. The mental health of students and staff is very important to a successful learning environment.
In conclusion, I am very proud of our entire Waupaca school district staff for the professional way they have acted and worked to keep our district strong. The community’s continued positive support is necessary! I know they have mine.
