A Note from Our Superintendent

As I’ve interacted with colleagues across the region this fall, the description most frequently shared is “normal” – as in the rhythm of the school year feels the most normal it has since the start of the pandemic. After nearly three years of disrupted schooling and premature pronouncements of COVID’s demise, we may be able to safely say that we can see the other side of the pandemic. That certainly doesn’t mean that COVID is behind us. But it may mean that COVID has reached a place where it will no longer disrupt learning and lives the way it did for the first 18 to 24 months of the pandemic.

It is undoubtedly welcome news that COVID, the illness, no longer needs to dominate our every waking (and unwaking) moments. However, the consequences COVID wrought for our young people should continue to dominate our thoughts and efforts in the months and years ahead. While some students fared relatively well during the pandemic, many more students experienced disruption, loss, disconnection, and isolation that may take years to remedy.

Some of the signs of COVID’s consequences are plain to see and quantify. Assessment scores in most districts and schools regionally, statewide, and nationally have declined from pre-pandemic levels, in many cases erasing years of hard-fought gains. Post-secondary enrollment is down and not rebounding as quickly as anticipated. Similarly, many districts’ K-12 enrollments remain down from pre-pandemic levels as families opt for different educational opportunities and modalities. Dozens of early learning centers and daycares have closed their doors and have not reopened, leaving a growing number of young families with limited or no options.

COVID’s other consequences are harder to see, but perhaps even more impactful and concerning. Many more students than pre-pandemic report struggles with mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, stress, and trauma. Many students – particularly younger students – struggle with socialization and adapting to the norms and expectations of belonging to a classroom and school community. Older students who graduated over the past three years missed out on major life experiences that can never be replicated. A growing number of educators are leaving the profession or opting for an earlier retirement than they may have intended a few years ago.

So the feeling of returning to a greater sense of normalcy is not the same as education returning to its prepandemic state. And I would argue that there may be something positive and constructive within that. In our rush to welcome a return to normalcy, I would hope that the enduring consequences of COVID challenge us to fundamentally rethink how, when, where, and why we educate young people. Nearly three years of a global pandemic ought to prompt some deep reflection and reconsideration of longstanding paradigms.

Because even in the supposedly “normal” times before the pandemic, our schools struggled to provide equitable and meaningful learning opportunities for all students. COVID highlighted and exacerbated those existing disparities. Returning to pre-pandemic levels of achievement and opportunity will be a positive step from where we’ve been over the past three years. But none of us should be content to simply return to a pre-existing status quo that was already not optimally serving too many students. All of us should insist upon, commit to, and work tirelessly towards an even better educational experience that enables each and every student to unlock their limitless potential and pursue their greatest passions. That would be an incredible new normal to welcome and celebrate.

Larry Francois