*This piece is from Spring 2020, when COVID-19 was a new reality towards school closing*
The fast evolving challenges placed by COVID-19 on educators and administrators across the country have left us scrambling for answers and also adapting our practices.
Small, non-profit, community based, non-public schools have their own sets of challenges to face in this situation as they may lack resources and networks that districts have at their disposal. As a principal of one such school in Massachusetts here are a few thoughts and ideas I have to share. While Massachusetts is heavily affected by COVID-19 and needed to strategize quickly, other states will soon be asking themselves the same questions, and grappling with similar scenarios.
Despite having the fourth largest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and declaring it a state-wide emergency, the state of Massachusetts did not immediately announce school-closing at a state-wide level. This had great implications of responsibility for district administrators and private school administrators alike. If the decision to close is made or not, it falls squarely on the shoulders of that administration. With some districts being precautionary before others, and some waiting for a case to occur nearby (despite testing being largely unavailable), it is a tough decision to call. Part of the hardship lies in how obvious it appears to close schools and practice social distancing.
So why don’t we close schools? Two obvious reasons for why this becomes a hard choice to make are:
· Homeless students and students who face hunger are left in a difficult situation. Until the state decides that food programs through schools can continue, this becomes a hard call. Reliance on food banks or the larger community is not as situated as the school experience in this aspect.
· When the Centers for Disease Control says that closing for 8 weeks is more effective in terms of mitigating the spread, but the state does not take that step because doing so would mean accepting that families now need child care, or work from home options, or help with paying rent, then school closing is stalled.
Sadly, both these reasons are not education centered, but rely on the infrastructure of schooling. In this situation, districts are asked to make the best call possible. In the case of Massachusetts, Commissioner Riley of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools (DESE) along with the Dr. Bharel, Commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH) got on a conference call this past Friday to update close to 1,000 school administrators present on that call. The takeaways included that DESE had reduced the make-up day requirement, that MCAS testing may be waived this year, that remote learning was not required, and that review packets the like of summer work were a more equitable choice to make. The DPH made recommendations that ranged from 2–14 day closings under various circumstances, with of course an understanding that every scenario is subject to change based on how the pandemic evolves.
District leaders walked away from that call with the burden of their decision making for thousands of students in many cases. Non-public schools walked away with some additional burdens as well. With many states now making the decision faster on school closing for between 1 to 3 weeks, and some even all the way to summer, we are faced with new issues that need resolution. While standards may be lifted, and public school teachers may or may not in different circumstances assign work to continue learning, many questions around the College Board SATs and AP exams are still unanswered because of the variance at a state level.
Regardless of how public school districts address these issues, the autonomy of non-public schools poses a test in such circumstances on various levels:
Decision Making:
It may be that a non public school wants to take a precautionary measure but their district is not closing, or vice versa. Under the DPH’s guidelines it may not have been declared necessary to close, but the school may be facing pressure from parents to close. Often the stakeholders in non-public schools are community members who are active in shaping the decision making process. It may be beneficial in such a case to have a policy that you always will follow the district if they announce a closing, but still maintain the right to declare a closure in case there is a delay on the district’s end, or if your school has a contact case before the district. Getting the Board of Directors on the same page as the administration is crucial. Critical also for non-public schools at this juncture is that they are connected to their country’s public health department, and are on the network listserve for their state DESE and DPH. Many time non-public schools function in isolation, but it is crucial at this time to reach out to these departments and have your school’s contact information in their database.
Financial Implications:
If learning does not continue, parents are prone to refusing payment to the school, or asking for a reimbursement. In many cases these schools may have a 12 month pay cycle for their teachers and with so many months remaining defaulted payments by parents, can cause serious damage to the school’s budget and impact teachers’ salaries. Non-profit schools can take a serious hit and go under and become bankrupt in a dire situation like this. It may be that the school decides not to pay its staff, have them claim unemployment, and thereby face the risk of not having teachers on staff for the upcoming year. In the absence of federal assistance in this case, states are deciding what level of help will be offered to small businesses. In the case of Massachusetts for instance an emergency loan of $75,000 for small businesses is in the works if your organization has less than 50 employees. The problem remains that there is no certainty of what this will look like, it would still need to be repaid, and will accrue interest.
Educational Implications:
Many non-public schools in this circumstance then, are pushing for the continuation of learning. Schools may set up a drive-thru pick of books and materials for parents before a “shelter-in-place” is announced. Schools may set up packets of learning for students, or try to transfer materials online for a virtual learning experience. This comes with its own sets of challenges:
1) Teachers scrambling to learn new technology.
2) Students learning new technology
3) Unavailability of technological resources at the school to make this happen across all grade levels
4) Teachers with different learning curves and capacities in the absence of professional development
5) Students with inequitable access to technology or materials at home
6) Students with varying levels of parental support
7) Students with IEPs facing a struggle
8) Unavailability of parent support due to their work schedules or capacity
9) Grading and assessment issues
10) Impact on how the quarter or term closes
In the face of all these, the educational experience becomes optional rather than mandatory, with some teachers moving full steam ahead, with others not quite there. Teachers have a plethora of options to choose from like Google Classroom, Zoom, Skype, Slack, Bluejeans etc. to work with, but in the absence of prior experience this can require getting out of one’s comfort zone.
Keeping Community:
As a non-public school, the smaller size than the larger districts may have an opportunity of community connection that allows them to remain proactive and continue the learning. Oftentimes parent volunteers can step up to help with technological set up. The most important step to take for small non-public schools is to keep the community together and connected. Losing their student and parent base can do more damage to the organization than anything else. Setting up read-aloud on social media sites, asking parents to share their stories, offering technical support, video conferencing with students and sharing your home experience, or even doing a video tour of the now-empty school can help build the bonds and keep the community connected. Equally important will be to keep the faculty connected and offer support to staff in this time of unease while remaining cognizant of their commitment to their own families.
Whether a complete learning experience is replicated virtually or not, or one opts for a pausing and reflective distancing, there is much to learn by the experience. The uncertainty is overwhelming at this time for small non-public schools, who know that they have to rely on their own creative resources to keep their organizations going.