Page 12 - EdViewptsSpring2021
P. 12
School Climate and Remote
Learning: Challenge and
Uncertainty
By Dr. Maribeth Edmunds, Principal, Monmouth Junction Elementary School,
South Brunswick
As principal, I think of my We asked questions, lots of them. Despite all of this, we hung onto the
“Should we make packets and have hope that we would return to in-person
school as family. In fact, I parents pick them up curbside?” “How instruction soon. Instead, September
often call school my ‘home away do we grade students when they take came and with it came virtual learning.
from home.’ So, when the pandemic tests at home?” More importantly, we
hit, I felt a deep sense of loss and asked, “How we will teach our youngest
separation. School had become two- students to read?” Uncertainty The Data
dimensional. It was reduced to small surrounded everything we did.
rectangles on a screen. We supported teachers with profes- It wasn’t until late September that we
For most of 2020, we found ourselves sional development on technology reviewed our school climate team data
from the previous year. We’ve always
in remote learning, with little time to so that they could stay connected taken this responsibility seriously
prepare. Hallways and classrooms to their students. We scrambled, and created action plans based on
were empty. Playgrounds were adjusted, and readjusted. We were our analysis. (Hoffman, et al 2020).
deserted. The morning bell continued told to ‘pivot’ even if we didn’t want Last year’s students had responded
to ring but was met with silence to. Synchronous and asynchronous to the survey and told us that they
instead of children’s voices. became household words. felt connected to their teacher and
Educational Viewpoints -10- Spring 2021
