If you had told me I would be practicing kundalini yoga on a daily basis, I would have rolled my eyes, but since I was immersed in a retreat with Tommy Rosen that one of my motherfriends gifted me to last year at Kripalu, I have not started a morning (unless I'm on a red eye - days gone by, hey?) without sitting down and practicing my kriya and mediation. I switch it up, it isn't always the same movements, but the intention is the same, and it gives me a serene sense of grounding. Today especially so. It is our first day of school.
This year, after four years of bouncing between schools in the Nauset District where I live, I've been offered a contract at the elementary school. Another thing that I would never have guessed I would be doing. Several virtual meetings have taken place throughout the summer, with updates from the Massachusetts Department of Education, school committees, teachers, principals the superintendent. 100% polling was done with teachers and parents. The consensus was 82% of parents wanted their kids to attend school in person. We've had nine days of professional development, with seven hours of training with the nurses who did a spectacular job of presenting every scenario for every age group. Preparation on various apps in case we have to go remote suddenly, which could happen. The high school failed their ventilation test, and instead of a hybrid scenario, they are starting at home. Protocols and funny videos and letters home to parents and student signatures all committing to participating in this unusual offering of education. No one is sure how the kids are going to return, what skills were absorbed last spring when lessons turned remote, how much they are up to speed, comprehension wise, on the material. There are so many uncertainties. How do you get kids not to talk to each other face to face during lunch? How do you manage kindergarteners from hugging each other? Recess takes place in "pods" where kids are at a distance.
I will say that the state has issued several mandates in which the students' mental health is put first. Watch for signs of stress. Schedule mask breaks and plenty of time outside. Watch for signs of anxiety. I have students that live with their parents, their big brother and grandmother. The parents work three jobs each, at Cumberland Farms, TJ Maxx, and a local restaurant that will probably close as close to November as possible, there being so many people staying in their summer houses over the winter this year. (So much so, that Wellfleet Elementary has grown 50%). But. There is always someone home with them. They are close enough in age to be able to play together. They are close siblings. When I saw them yesterday, they were geared up with sparkles and new sneakers and fancy hair and backpacks. I knew they'd be o.k. One of my other students has matriculated on to the middle school. Last night his mother texted me with questions about his school school bus pick up this morning. He’s been on his own, mom works two jobs, and one is the Sheraton, where he has been spending the days in the business center while she works. He hasn't been out to bike or go to the beach that much, even with invites. We have been reading books together virtually most of the summer. It's kids like him that worry me. They just moved here July 2019, so to be a new kid in school, where everyone in your class looks and speaks different from you, to make friends and find your place in the social structure of 5th grade, then to be sent home just when you're getting used to cold weather. I want to propose "hall monitors", not traditional monitors to keep check on running in the hall, but teachers or aides that keep an eagle eye out for students like him, that put on their invisibility cloak, to make sure they don't fall through the cracks.
