feature story
This Is Our Time
Educators have a chance to make real change this year BY CARRIE J. SANCHEZ
“
I
sure can’t wait for things to get back to normal.” I have to be honest with you, I have not said that yet, because I really do not want to. If I said it, it would most certainly be a lie. Confessing that to you now almost feels like some level of betrayal, but it is absolutely the truth. This August, I am excited and proud to begin my twelfth year as a middle school principal and twenty-fifth year in education. Our work as principals and school leaders is unlike any other. The amount of time, energy, dedication, resilience, compassion, and expertise that is required is second to none. We are champions of children and teachers. We are advocates for all. And we are, unquestionably, self-sacrificers.
We had to do it without guidance on how to do it or an acceptable margin for error. I remember feeling early on that I was standing in the middle of a playground teeter-totter and one small move would upset the balance and the whole thing would come crashing down. 53 days of instruction, 83 total days of quarantine until our school year concluded—I could not relax, I could not sleep, I could not breathe, I could not allow the balance to topple. I remember prior to the quarantine I would rush home from school to let my loyal and faithful dog outside after countless hours at home. I would have a thought like: “I can set my timer for 8 minutes,” so I could momentarily close my eyes before having to return to my school to attend an event or a meeting or a concert...or maybe just return to the office to tackle the mountain of emails I had not gotten to that day. I would cheer on my own daughters at their respective events or shuttle them to and from practices while trying to come up with something for dinner that resembled mediocre quality before rushing through the obligatory “How was your day?” onesided conversations with teenagers. Showers, laundry, homework, lunch packing...you know the relentless chaos. After my girls were tucked into bed then what I refer to as “Second Shift” began: the writing of teacher evaluation rubrics and comments.
“I have not yet said, ‘I can’t wait for things to get back to normal,’ because that would be a lie.
COVID-19 and the nationwide quarantine created an experience unlike any of us have ever experienced. Until COVID, I had not realized that I was deteriorating, but I had not tested positive for the coronavirus. I am not sick. I am an educator. A proud and dedicated educator. An exhausted and truly spent educator. Does this sound familiar? School leaders do not say things like this. Somewhere along the course of our careers, we learned that admitting being stretched too thin was an indicator of weakness.
I don’t want normal. I want BETTER than what normal used to be.”
In March we all suffered the same whip-lash event. Our schools were closed unexpectedly. Our students were taken away. Our teachers became franchise managers of virtual classrooms. This was not a blizzard or natural disaster or community crisis. This was different. This hurt us in places we did not know we could hurt. We had to re-invent, re-establish, and re-design without any warning. We had to do what we have always done in a way we had never done before.
What I am sharing is nothing different than many of your lives, I am quite certain. We truly love our work. We deeply love our schools. We do what it takes. I have not yet said, “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal,” because that would be a lie. I don’t want normal. I want BETTER than what normal used to be. fall 2020
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