What Could Go Right?

Last July, I sat in a county leadership meeting with the other school administrators and central office directors to plan how a school year would work. To say that this meeting and several that followed it were frustrating would be an understatement. I couldn't help but feel that this was never going to work. And don't get me wrong, I wanted it to work. Probably more than most people in the room. I could quickly see that our own fears of making wrong decisions led to no decisions. Obviously, to pull this off, it would take tremendous support and buy-in from teachers, another group that I knew had real fears and concerns. It would put so many of us out of our comfort zones for an extended period of time. I would have never have told you at the start of the school year, but I thought we would last just a few weeks. I've never been happier to be wrong. 

Now that we are at the end of what will always be remembered as a difficult school year, we are starting to think about the next one. We also know that even if we return to operations as normal, next year will be tough. Longer days, fewer workdays, fuller classes, and retraining students to regular expectations will be difficult. As challenging as this year was, we will have to start next year what these new challenges in front of us. It's easy to think about what can go wrong and what will be difficult. A big part of my job is to try to recognize problems and find solutions to them. But if this year has taught me anything, it's that you can't just focus on what can go wrong. 

When we start next school year, there will be plenty of students that welcome the sense of normalcy. Their return to activities and socialization will fill a void that has been empty for a long time. There are also plenty of students that virtual learning didn't work for. A return to classrooms and more interpersonal teaching will reactivate parts of their brains that have been asleep and you'll see those lightbulbs go off. There are freshmen this year that didn't get a real "high school experience" and perhaps a dose of that will excite them, even if it's just a few that emerge as leaders. When we mix this with new skills and abilities that we have picked up this year, there's probably good reason to focus on "what could go right" over "what could go wrong" the next time around. 

Next year, my oldest daughter will be here along with many of her friends that I know well. I can tell you that I hear in my own house a yearning for a normal school year. They are excited about high school. And I can't help but think that for me, that makes it personal to give them back every opportunity that we can. What can go right this next year? I promise I won't doubt us this time.