My COVID Life At School

As you all work to both educate students and keep them safe, Maine Educator reached out to those who are working in our buildings, buses and universities to see what its really like to teach, work and learn during a pandemic. On the following pages are the unedited thoughts of educators from different parts of the state who wrote about their typical day.

Gerry French, Bus Driver, RSU 71

As a bus driver, my day usually begins at 4:00 a.m. I’m generally the first employee on the job at RSU 71, arriving at 5:00. My workday begins by checking the answering machine at the Bus Garage, hoping that no driver has called in for a sick day, as we have no substitutes. In fact, most of our Maintenance Department has been driving students to and from school since our first day.

After ensuring all bus runs are covered, I go to my bus to make my daily circle check for defects. Additionally, we now also sanitize the bus interior and check to be sure that we have PPE for both ourselves and our students. Throughout the day, I have a total of five separate bus runs, which requires additional steps in sanitation between each of them.

The difficult part for drivers is to make sure that PPE is being consistently used by students as we travel down the road to either school or home. However, for the most part, students have been cooperative when entering and exiting the bus by wearing masks and using hand sanitizer that our district provides. There has been an uptick in parent transport to and from school that has led to busier traffic situations at each school in our district both at arrival and departure times, but we are all working together to make adjustments that work for all.

Bonnie Dixon-Tribou, School Nurse, RN, MSN, Lillian Hussey Elementary School, Augusta

I do some a.m. preparation at home before I go to school-I go over a notebook that I keep of things that I need to follow up on from the day/days before. Who has been quarantined? Who has pending labs for COVID? Who do I feel should consider testing? I have some answers to give to the staff and specific teachers and I typically try to go over them in my mind to present the information they need in a way that is not so “medical.” How can I best explain a situation assuring that they understand the gravity of importance without creating a panic? These teachers give a lot to their students, but many do have children, babies, elders, and some have chronic diseases of their own and they are frightened about exposure. I think about this a lot, as I think of my own family. Not to be too preachy, but knowledge is power so the more information that I can share the more at ease everyone might feel. They need to have the information to keep themselves and their students and families safe from this unfamiliar threat.

When I arrive at school, I often get some information from the school secretaries. They may have taken calls from parents of students who are out, and they do some screening questions, so I know who I need to follow up with, ie: any COVID-19 like symptoms, I follow up. I then check voicemail (typically the more urgent information is here) then I check email to see if there are any updates on information for transmission/exclusion/etc. And of course, any other information that I need to follow up on. I will also often get information from the Assistant Superintendent when there has been a large exposure threat; a daycare that many of our children use having a case puts a lot of new work on my plate for follow up. Who was exposed? Do they have symptoms? What is the protocol when they return to school? I always have to be certain I am following the standard operating procedures that they want followed (things change a little bit every so often) because all of us (nurses) need to be giving the same information to our parents and staff. Sometimes (like today) when I arrive, I send out a group email clarifying some things that occurred the day before or if there are any changes on the way.

My contacts with students start at varying times. That aspect of the job is, believe it or not, quieter. The teachers have been asked to contact me for any non-emergent need (or urgent) ahead of time in case there is a child in my isolation room, or office. We are trying very hard to mix the children as little as possible. Sometimes the teacher will just need advising and that is the end of it. Other times I need to either have the student come or I go to them. My first contact is usually when a teacher calls or if I have information about exposures that I need to either remove a child from the classroom for assessment. If I have no one in my space I typically have the teacher send the student to me. If it is a young student, I will go get them. This is a change as students used to just line up outside the door.

Many afternoons are a back and forth between parents, childcare providers, the teacher of an exposed or potentially exposed child. I spend a lot of time answering questions as to what constitutes an exclusion from school and what scenario a child can stay or if a child is out, for how long. I generally get emails from the school nurse consultant in the afternoon and I try to get in an article to read to make sure I have the most recent and accurate information about Covid-19 and the steps we take to prevent transmission.

The end of the day usually consists of finishing all my notes. I have a Google live document that I keep updated on potential cases, exposures, who is currently quarantined and out and who has been cleared? I also still must get this information individually in the students' medical chart in our system. I double check if I left myself a note to continue anything that I was interrupted and couldn’t finish in real time (which I prefer but is not always attainable so in the notebook it goes). I also go through supplies to be sure that the “refill station” of supplies for the playground monitors is stocked. I must double check my own supplies then disinfect everything. I do the disinfecting throughout the day as student and staff are in and out of the office. But at the end of the day I do it again. I send out any last-minute emails of information and double check any calls that are still pending and am sure to add it to my follow-up notes. Sometimes I make calls on my way home from the car to the parents I could not reach during the day.

on here in a day, but this gives a bit on what is extra, this is all aside from the usual stuff of bumps, bruises, etc. I still have to check in on and follow up on all vaccination information. There is still dental hygiene coordination with new COVID considerations, there is flu clinic that still will take place now with COVID considerations. The children need to be watched for 15 minutes, without being near one another, and this timing is so critical so that in giving them a potentially lifesaving vaccine we do not spread another threatening disease to them. Our families really rely on getting the flu vaccine here at school, and this year it is more important than ever!

I can go on and on but hopefully this gives a glimpse into what we are dealing with from the perspective of the nurses. Our main objective of keeping the school healthy and safe is wildly interrupted with this pandemic and I don’t see an end any time soon. I have seen such dedication and concern from the teaching staff, the administration, custodial, students, their families, and the nursing staff that I still feel very hopeful that we will get through this, not unscathed but in the best way possible, because everyone is doing their part. So, while this pandemic is terrifying in many ways, it is also showing the care that we all have for these students their families and one another. Some days that is what gets me through it all and makes me want to come back and do it all again the next.

Lorraine Hall, Special Education Ed Tech, Camden-Rockport Middle School

I work as a special education ed tech in a behavior program at Camden-Rockport Middle School. Because of the new COVID rules everything we normally knew has changed. This year, 8th graders come Monday, 7th grade Tuesday, 6th grade Wednesday and 5th grade Thursday. Administration did this to teach each grade level the new safety COVID rules. To add to the new NORM, we also have a brand-new building which continues to be active with construction until October.

To start a day in this new norm, at home, I have a clean apron and masks to wear each day (and of course it needs to match my outfit). I have 7 different colors to choose from because I don't do laundry every day-who does?! This apron is used to carry all my new personal supplies, Kleenex, sanitizer, pen, post it notes, clean mask, whistle, new door FOB, mask holder and my cell phone. As an Ed Tech, we aren't always in our rooms and need to have a lot more equipment with us for ourselves or our kiddos to be safe. I wish I could figure out how to include my mug of tea, so my hands were free to sanitize before entering our classroom. To start a day in the classroom, academics are pushed aside for a few weeks while we learn the new online platforms and the new COVID safety protocols. We carry 3' and 6' noodles to help support learning the new social distancing protocol, inside and outside mask breaks are held, and not to mention eating inside the cafeteria at 6' distances. Middle school kiddos are in school to socialize and it is heartbreaking to continue to redirect students to spread apart from each other.

The staff are learning along with the students learning our new online learning platforms, Seesaw, Aleks, Sora and Google Sites. Each day while we are learning online, we also have remote students who are zooming in to the lessons simultaneously. If a student is not present (online or in person) we record the lesson so the student can either catch up later or work from home while ill. Truly, we are all in this together and learning right along with the students, putting on our confident happy faces, realistically anticipating another shut down of the school due to COVID-19.

Thomas Panciera, Custodian, SAD 4 Piscataquis County High School

My preparation for the school day this year is pretty sad. I used to get up at 4 a.m. and go to the gym before work, now I just sleep as long as possible because I'm not really that motivated to go to work. Some days I sleep through my alarms because I'm exhausted. We (my wife teaches in the district) are constantly feeling the pressure to "not be sick" this year, so mornings are definitely more stressful than they used to be. When I arrive at work, I unlock doors and turn lights on as I usually do. I begin my cleaning routine, which consists of wiping down a whole lot more surfaces than I used to. I usually finish my morning rounds as staff are arriving and just before students arrive. I then go and fill our buckets with the cleaning/disinfecting solution for wiping down tables and chairs during breakfast times. What happens from here until the end of the day is completely up in the air. We must wipe down cafeteria tables/ chairs after every use, that means at least 6 times per day in our school. When I'm not doing this, I try to do things I would normally do in my old routine, such as cleaning the front lobby, hallways, taking out trash barrels etc. There is no routine this year, and I never get everything done because I'm constantly being pulled elsewhere.

When all staff are here, I have 3 hall monitors that also go around and help with cleaning and disinfecting throughout the day. One of them is almost always subbing though, and there have been days when we have been down to just one hall monitor and myself. The more shorthanded we are, the more things get skipped or pushed back to another day as there simply isn't enough time to get it all done. Besides the extra cleaning rounds, I am constantly getting emails, phone calls, texts, calls over the intercom, or face to face requests about any number of things. Typically, these have to do with needing PPE, cleaning supplies, or questions about procedure. I'm also bombarded with complaints about things not getting cleaned properly by other custodians. I have not had a single complaint this year about any of my areas, but I have dealt with more disgruntled staff in a month than I have in the previous 2.5 years combined. It's getting really tiring. I also double as a monitor during breaks and meals throughout the day, making sure that the students are following the rules and wearing masks properly.

When the last lunch is over, I'm usually scrambling to try to get the tables and chairs washed one final time, sweep the areas, take trash out, clean the kitchen and the kitchen bathroom. I often work past the end of my shift or fail to complete every task because we do not have much time between the final lunch and when my shift ends.

Every Wednesday in our school is set aside for teachers to work with remote students and it's also the time when students who are behind on work can come into school to get caught up. Since it is not a regular day, we have a few less staff and a lot less students in the building. The custodial staff is supposed to be using Wednesdays for "deep cleaning," but I'm usually just trying to get caught up on the regular things that have been pushed back. My Wednesdays are usually extremely busy and aren't really any kind of a relief form the regular work week.

Taryn Southard, Teacher, Talbot Community School Portland

My workday now starts an hour earlier than years past, so I am up at 5:00 a.m. to get myself ready to go. I have also found I need to get up earlier, so I have more time before my students arrive to get myself prepared for the day. We have so many new routines and protocols that it is going to take me some time to learn them all.

I start out my day by getting the classroom ready for students-I fill up their water bottles, set out their breakfast, get any papers ready for their remote days, and make sure everything is clean. I also check my SeeSaw classroom to make sure my morning meeting and other assignments have posted for my remote students and I check Talking Points to make sure my remote families are ready for the day.

There are a lot more tears than usual. On the first day of school one of my students was visibly shaking and when I asked what was wrong, she started to cry. She had been home for the past six months with her dad and she missed him terribly. It went against everything inside of me not to hug her. We've had a lot of tears because the school day starts so early, too. The morning is also a bit more chaotic than normal because there are many more routines-washing hands, how to take off masks and eat, how to clean up and sanitize, what to do with the work I did during my remote day, getting students books to read at home...these are all things we've never had to deal with before. Eventually it will all become routine, though!

After my in-person students leave I eat a quick lunch and then I transition to helping my remote students for the day. I have been sending Talking Points messages daily to check in with remote families and make sure they are all set. We take attendance in the morning for in-person students and in the afternoon for remote students, so I try to connect with everyone and make sure they have what they need. I also send home a daily agenda that details remote work and I usually spend my afternoon updating and copying all work for remote days. Afternoons are also for meetings. We meet weekly with literacy and math coaches, we have a bi-weekly RTI meeting, and a weekly grade level meeting. Committee work and union meetings are outside of that. Although my in-person students are gone earlier in the day, there are seemingly more ways to fill up the afternoon hours.

I am home by three in the afternoon with my own kids who are learning through a hybrid model in a different school system. We are currently paying my sister as their "remote teacher" and that has been a huge blessing because I feel like I can focus on work, when I am at work. I often must take meetings in the car when I am rushing home from school. After my own kids go to bed, I am usually planning for the days ahead, reading school emails, and fielding emails from union members, as a building rep. There have been many more emails for me as a building rep this year because of all the understandable uncertainty and fear.

Ann Richard, Kitchen Manager, RSU 34 Old Town High School

Old Town High School is divided into two groups: the first group going Monday and Tuesday in school learning with remote learning on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and the second group having remote learning on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with in school learning on Thursday and Friday.

The Food Service Staff at the high school not only serve breakfast and lunch to the in-class learners but also prepare and serve meals curbside to all remote learners in RSU 34. I work at home on menus and ordering for the week plus plan for our daily tasks at work. My staff consists of myself, another full-time employee and a part time employee-so it's vital that we have a plan!

Once we arrive at school, we start preparing to deliver breakfast meals to the classroom. Any food that we deliver must be individually wrapped, any fruit bagged, utensils bagged. We also will hand them their food rather than letting them pick it up for themselves. This all happens once their school day begins in the classroom.

Arriving back in the kitchen we then start working on lunch, both in the classroom and curbside. We have a new sealing machine that takes our hot meals and seals them to serve, it almost makes them look like a T.V. dinner! Getting meals to the classroom hot is another challenge, we have special tools that help keep the food hot.

Curbside meals for remote learners consist of a breakfast meal and a lunch meal that a parent or guardian can pick up between 9:30 - 10:30 each day. This has been and will continue to be a challenge with weather, rain and cold and dare I say SNOW?!

We have been doing remote meals for anyone 18 years old and under throughout the pandemic, March 18th through the summer. Many people in our district have helped to make this possible, food service staff, Ed Techs, custodians, bus drivers and even community volunteers have made and delivered 10,500 meals a week! It's sometimes overwhelming to think about!

I feel rewarded knowing I am part of this whole process, as challenging as it is. I've met new people in the system that I may have never met; we all came together as a team to provide for the needs of students in our community.

And one more thing.... wearing a mask sucks but I certainly make more eye contact with the students, and they make more eye contact with me and that's a special thing.

Susan Sawyer, Administrative Assistant, Chelsea School

To prepare for my day at home I must check the AESOP Frontline absence app to see if any positions at the school have not been filled by substitutes. As soon as I get to work, I turn on my computer, find someone to cover any positions that have not been filled, the phone is ringing, teachers are emailing, everyone has questions!!! I need to check the school-wide calendar to see what the events are for the day and check the principal's notice to see what she has planned for the day.

My first contact with students is helping with taking temperatures of students that are being driven to school by their parents, radioing the bus drivers one at a time to dismiss their students. My last contact is dismissing the students to their busses, making sure everyone is on the correct bus and that the students that are being picked up are not on the bus. This is not where I have felt the biggest impact from COVID, it is however with the hundreds of questions and emails from parents and staff alike wanting to know how things are going to run, what safety provisions we have put in place and will everyone be safe????

I am overwhelmed with ordering supplies to keep us all safe and cannot keep up along with all the other duties I am assigned. On top of all of this, I have a brand-new Administrator! Although she is doing great, it still takes a lot of my time to brief her on past practice etc. This has been the most stressful year I have ever had in my position of 25 years at Chelsea School. I have been extremely exhausted from all the extra work I am doing due to COVID.

Paul Johnson, Professor, University of Southern Maine

My concerns and anxieties were not related to teaching the class itself but focused on “technology” issues. Over the course of the summer, I had undertaken a series of weekly workshops regarding a new computer program, entitled Brightspace, which the entire University of Maine System was going to be utilizing. I had learned how to put up announcements, post discussions, post threads, list course resources, access my class list, utilize the course administration tool, import material, start a thread, start a module. In addition, each weekly class would be taught through Zoom.

What a relief, every student was on Zoom. I introduced myself, and asked the question “Were you able to log into Zoom ok?” There were a few yes’s, however, a few individuals reported they had encountered some difficulties. In my undergraduate seminar, the students looked nervous, anxious. A few asked questions, however, several students turned off not only their volume, but also their video. However, my graduate seminar went much better. The students were more engaged, they seemed far more comfortable with this modality. My rationale for this being, that they were our low residency cohort, and all their classes were online.

With my undergraduate seminar, I must admit, I am feeling nervous and unsure of how this is all going to pan out. With my graduate class, I am feeling a lot more comfortable.

Jaime Halbmaier-Stuart, Teacher, Lebanon Elementary Schools

I'm not sure words like anxious, anticipation, joy, or elation can paint the right picture about returning to school this fall. To say that my feelings were all over the place seems like a monstrous understatement. But I am extremely fortunate- I work at the Lebanon Elementary Schools. And if you remember nothing else about our town remember this… Lebanon Schools have always been a welcoming and positive place to be, and COVID has not changed that. Not even a little bit. The unyielding efforts of our administrators, who have put students and teachers at the center of every aspect of their planning, have created a remarkably effective hybrid learning model for Lebanon students. In addition, we are fortunate to have community support and appreciation, as well as a supportive Central Office Administration team.

My 18 students are divided between my own classroom and an adjoining classroom, where an amazing Education Technician, Erica Sirois, is my teaching partner this year. Our mission is to support one another, as we support our 18 kiddos.

At home my preparations are much the same as before, except before I leave, I grab a matching mask as a complement to my outfit instead of earrings. Our school day runs from 8:30am - 4:00pm with students arriving from 9:15-9:45 and departing between 2:45pm -3:15pm.

As soon as I get to school, I am preparing much like I would on a "regular" school day, except maybe not as frantically. This year I get to walk to the copier rather than making a mad dash to get in line as students are arriving almost 30 minutes after staff. Erica and I have time to go over our schedule and adjust as needed. Nine forward facing desks occupy each of our classrooms and although the rooms lack special seating, and much of the pizazz of our normal classroom spaces, there is an element of simplicity that seems refreshing. A limited class library is available, and students meet with us to make their selections so we can sanitize the books before handing them off to their temporary owners.

Upon arrival, students work on a variety of online and paper-based activities, including a Google Form that asks how they're feeling and poses a "Would You Rather" or other engaging question. Today's: Would you rather wrestle with a grizzly or a gorilla? Why? The form gives Erica and I instant feedback about where our students are emotionally, and we can check in, as needed. During the morning hours we have a modified Morning Meeting where we greet one another, discuss the day's agenda, and do a mindfulness activity or social emotional check in. Today's check in: A star and a stair. What is going well, your star? A stair, what would you change? Overwhelming students shared that they were happy to be in school even though they had to wash their hands all the time and stay socially distant from friends. Their stair: MASKS. Followed by, "But we understand why we need them, and we want to stay in school, so we'll get through it!" Seriously...from 4th graders! Our kids get this! They want to be with us, they want to learn, and they understand that things need to look different this year!

During the remainder of the morning students receive instruction from specialists for 30 minutes. (Specials operate on a two-week rotation this year to keep cohorts small and limit exposure to multiple cohorts for specialists.) While one group receives specialist instruction the other is receiving math instruction. After that, we switch. Math is followed by a systematic washing of hands before we head outside for a socially distant snack and mask break. Thankfully mother nature has been very kind to us thus far! Our plan is to keep adding layers of clothing in order to take advantage of this routine as long as possible. When it gets too cold, we'll adjust.

While outside we all have a chance to chat, hydrate, refuel, and decompress. This morning we utilized our outdoor learning workstations (portable plastic lap desks) to do some math work with the fall breeze blowing on our faces. Our students did amazing! Focused, and motivated! I'm not even sure we went over outdoor learning expectations yet!

Lunch looks different with desks facing one direction, six feet apart. Masks are removed once everyone is seated, and students can chat with one another from their seats. Our playground is divided into two areas where the Stuart/ Sirios cohorts can play separately. The Lebanon Schools PTO generously provided a basket and playground balls for each class that are sanitized daily.

The afternoon is devoted to literacy, and although we aren't quite there yet, will be utilized for individual Guided Reading instruction and independent reading activities, as well as district sanctioned online activities (which the kids LOVE), social studies, and hands-on science activities. (The plan is to integrate the curriculum as much as possible.)

Dismissal time, to be fair, is probably the most challenging part of our day. It takes a good chunk of time to get kids out for parent pick-ups, and although buses are arriving in a timely manner right now, the weather may impact that as winter creeps in. We fill our time with modified group games, silent reading time, tech time, and free choice time. Although it's tedious, and we're all zapped at that point, it works.

I typically spend the end of my day preparing for the next. Laying out documents to copy, adding and erasing from my planner, revisiting my multiple to-do lists and notes to myself, checking my hand for inked on reminders that I really, really need to keep in mind, etc. We are fortunate to have a reasonable amount of planning time on Remote Wednesdays as students do not receive new instruction that day. It is expected that teachers be available for office hours during the morning, then participate in PLCs during the afternoon. Of course, I don't leave right at 4:00, and I typically spend at least a couple hours each weekend reading and planning for the week ahead, but these are things I would do in a normal year. The most time-consuming aspect of my job so far this year is preparing and managing online learning activities. Planning developmentally appropriate online activities that are rigorous and engaging is a balancing act like no other and I pray for that yellow or green designation each Friday, so I don't have to do more of it! Remote planning aside, I leave school feeling happy, and accomplished. I feel confident that should things begin to crumble; we will be able to adjust and come out of it relatively unscathed.

I'm sure that my abundance of positivity has some of you nauseous, and for that I'm sorry! I recognize how extremely fortunate I am and know that even in my own district there is a lack of consistency among teacher experiences during this unprecedented time. So, to those at the other end of the spectrum I leave you with this: GIVE YOURSELVES A BREAK! Reach out to colleagues, speak up about things you think would make your school better, join your local Association and band together for one another! None of us truly knows where this is headed, so there's no data to say you're doing it wrong! I go into work with one goal: Make my students happy to be in school. The rest, as they say, will fall into place.