TECHNICALLY SPEAKING Small Town Education

TECH GROWS in the WOODS BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

Stephaney Williamson is the single teacher in Lowman with nine students in first through sixth grade.

VISITING TEACHER Since coronavirus left students at home, each Monday, Williamson rides the bus to drop off work for her students and pick up assignments they’ve completed.

“Lowman isn’t really even a town,” explains Stephaney Williamson, laughing. “We have a schoolhouse,

but that’s about it.” Instead, it is an unincorporated rural census-designated place in Boise County, less than a two hour drive from Boise, nestled into mountains along the South Fork of the Payette River. Officially, the population is 42.

Notably, Lowman is home to one of only a few hundred one room schoolhouses left in the United States. Williamson, in her second year teaching in Lowman, is the single teacher for first through sixth grade, depending on the year. For the 2019-2020 school year, she had nine students spread across every grade but fifth, and next year, she should have at least one in every grade. In a normal school year, this presents interesting challenges. And this year has been anything but ordinary.

Williamson grew up in nearby Garden Valley, and says she’s been trying to move back since she left. When the job opened up in Lowman, she moved her family from Utah where they’d been living and, using the multigrade approach she’d developed as a montessori teacher, jumped right into this unique teaching situation.

She teaches a small but interesting bunch- -some of Williamson’s students are siblings to other children at the schoolhouse, some have attended since kindergarten, and two come from families where at least one parent also attended Lowman Elementary.

Prior to coronavirus, she knew her students very well. But after? “We’ve all taken virtual tours of each other’s houses. We’ve met each other’s pets. My students all say hi to my husband or son when they bring me breakfast. We’re a big family. This has been a chance to bring people together when we’re far apart. Our hearts are together,” she says.

Because of the various grade levels of her students, Williamson explains that her students were already independent learners. Each day, she prepares work for each of them and allows them the freedom to choose when and what they work on. Throughout the day, she pulls different students or groups into lessons while the other students continue their learning. After coronavirus left students at home, she morphed her curriculum into a home/ school partnership. “But they’re still doing the same work,” she says.

Lowman Elementary is a part of the Garden Valley School District, which provides Chromebooks to every student, so the technology was already in place too. Williamson’s students all had internet access

at home, which has allowed them to have daily Zoom meetings, oneon-one meetings for extra help or conferences, and virtual lessons. Using a document camera, she can continue teaching in much the same way she did before.

For students outside of Lowman but in the district, the Garden Valley School District set up a sort of hotspot. “And we have such support from parents and neighbors and extended families who are all making sure school continues for these students,” Williamson gushes.

Lowman is truly a community that has come together--the district has continued daily bus service to deliver meals in Garden Valley and Lowman, and each Monday, Williamson rides the bus to drop off work for her students and pick up assignments they’ve completed. She says it gives her the chance to chat (from a distance) with parents and connect with her students. The school bus has also partnered with local food pantries to make sure that families in need receive food deliveries.

And, while celebratory moments like birthdays are hard, “we’re making it work,” she says. Williamson says that she’s been inspired by the way people are pressing on and finding solutions even in places like Garden Valley’s tiny grocery store. “People are getting what they need.”

She says that, throughout this process, there’s been a great deal of support from families, staff, and administration in the Garden Valley

School District. “When this started, teachers had the autonomy to create something that would work. We came back from Spring Break with a plan,” she explains. “We’re in the process now of seeing how things will look in the future.”

Despite the strangeness of these times, Williams looks forward to next year, and says her kids are ready for it too. “Our goal is to keep kids and parents positive. To let them know that they can do this. We have a distance hug. This has given us time to think. I ask myself if I’m doing things mechanically because I always have. I adjust to focus on what’s important,” Williamson says.  Lowman Elementary is part of the Garden Valley School District.