It's a weird time in education these days. Coming out of the pandemic, everyone is recovering from the chronic stress of the past two years. Students are less engaged. Parents are feeling insecure. Teachers and administrators are simply exhausted. This has led to some interesting outcomes. People are more demanding and less patient. Burned-out teachers are choosing other professions.
And, if you follow enough teachers on social media, you will find a lack of trust between teachers and their administrators. This may be the saddest impact of all. These are the people who should have each other's backs, but it seems that right now, people are too exhausted for empathy. As a result, many administrators don't give teachers the benefit of the doubt, and many teachers assume the worst motivations from their leaders.
GRACE isn't immune, but because we already had a close relationship with our leaders and were in awe of them through the remote and hybrid times, we have been able to hold on to our loving relationships better than most. As the year began, I prayed that this would be a year we would not have an opportunity to be in awe of their leadership. This week showed that this prayer won't be answered for at least another year. A teacher who has only been with us for a few months informed us the night before we returned from spring break that he would not be returning.
With only nine weeks of school remaining, what is a school to do with this situation? Try to hire a new teacher? With the amount of time that would take, students would be left teacherless for most of the remaining days of the year. As I said earlier, parents are feeling insecure about education as we emerge from the pandemic, and math is where that insecurity is most concentrated. I don't know what would have happened in other schools, but here's what happened at GRACE. Our principal stepped up and stepped in. She was a math and science teacher prior to entering administration, so our kids will learn math well for the next nine weeks. And, we know they will be loved for the next nine weeks.
But, it's not like she was loaded with free time before this happened. GRACE administrators have jobs that are more than full-time already. So, what happens with her principal responsibilities? Other administrators have stepped in. Our deans are doing more end-of-year planning, and our head of school is taking on more observations. Our librarian, who was planning the DC field trip with our principal is now bringing it home alone. The dominos just keep falling.
I don't know if shouting things from the rooftops was ever a real thing, but tribute must be paid to these awesome leaders, and this blog is the most public platform I have. Thank you, Mandy, for stepping up at a moment's notice for our students. Thank you, Meagan (our math department chair) for dealing with the inherent awkwardness this situation makes. Thank you to Eric, Blake, Daniel, Cathy, and Willa Bea for taking as much off Mandy's plate as possible in the coming weeks. Thank you to Marcia for making sure our 8th grade still gets a great trip to DC.
And, thank you to everyone who prays for us. Please add Mandy and the rest of these awesome administrators to your list if they aren't on it already. And, if they are, give them a few more minutes.
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