On Monday, Hartville was the first of the six Wright County school districts to have students and teachers join together to begin the 2020-2021 school year. Both Mansfield and Skyline return on Monday, Aug. 24 followed by Mountain Grove and Manes on Tuesday, Aug. 25 and Norwood on Thursday, Aug. 27. I personally think administrators at all six school districts should be commended for their efforts in guiding their districts through this life-changing pandemic. The administrators are doing their best to make decisions based on encouragement and direction from state government officials, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as well as guidance from state and local health departments. This is the first pandemic of the 21st Century that has truly affected all of us and we are going through uncharted territory together.
I’ve seen many Facebook posts in recent weeks criticizing our school officials for some of the decisions they are making. It may be easy to point fingers, but I sure would not want to switch places with the administrators making these decisions. For the ones that I know personally and have had conversations with, they are good people who really care about the students in their district.
Necessary safety precautions are in place and it is likely more will be taken as the year progresses.
I am personally going to be more diligent in praying for those working at and attending school this year with the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic lingering. As the main writer for our publication, I know I have zero desire to write a story about a district having several students testing positive for the coronavirus.
My plan is to pray daily for everyone’s safety and for this school year to mark a transition from COVID-19 life back to how we lived before the pandemic began. Wow, the thought of life returning to what it was at the end of 2019...
While there have been some blessings that have come out of this pandemic (i.e. more family time, etc.), I do know I look forward to us possibly living life again as we once did in 2019.
By God’s grace, perhaps we will return some day.
Until then, may we live life each day being thankful for what we have and try to make the best of the current situation, no matter what it is we might be going through or what challenges remain ahead of us.
