What a day.
This morning I met via ZOOM with the yearbook editors for 2020-21. Their theme ideas reflect the burdens COVID asks them to carry:
- Courage Today, Leaders Tomorrow
- Challenges Build Leaders
- The Challenge Is Ours
- Our Path Forward
One of the students participated by phone because she was en route to out-of-town for COVID testing.
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This afternoon I met in a public park--distanced across a wide picnic table--with a lovely couple planning their wedding ceremony. This will be the seventh wedding I've officiated. The wedding was originally scheduled for early June, then postponed until September.
V&J were surprisingly upbeat, considering the upheaval of their original plans. As we sketched out their ceremony and considered options for vows, the humid Iowa air was electrified by the laughter in their voices. Of all the hats I've worn, Wedding Officiant might be the most joyful. Love is a many-splendored thing.
At the conclusion of our planning, I asked the happy couple to identify a family member or friend who could conduct the ceremony if I am in quarantine.
I will write the script, but if I'm in lockdown, they'll need someone else to read it.
Their wedding is set 19 days after my students return.
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Our school board met tonight via ZOOM. Two weeks ago they met face-to-face, albeit distanced, in the high-school media center. However, given our community's recent outbreak involving kids and administrators' families, they smartly returned to an online meeting tonight...
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...to discuss plans to put students and teachers into all-day indoor meetings (more commonly referred to as school), starting next week.
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The board opened with public comments: letters from parents, teachers, and members of the community voicing concerns about reopening. (In transparency, I was one who submitted a public comment, asking for the strengthening of their directives. Students should not merely be "encouraged" to wear masks. They should be "expected" to. Masking should be required in the school's public spaces such as hallways.)
Five of the letters asked the board to tighten expectations on masking and distancing. The sixth urged the board to open school and voiced the difficulty her family faces with childcare if both parents are working and schools are closed.
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Next the county public health coordinator spoke. Board members asked her directly about our increase in cases. We are now at a 9 percent positivity mark. Was this number expected to go up?
She said yes.
They asked if the CDC also recommended masks at this level of positive testing.
She said yes.
They asked her if doctors she worked with recommended masking.
She said yes.
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Despite the public comments urging tighter restrictions, and despite the direct recommendations from our department of public health, and despite an articulate and heartfelt address by one of our newest board members to require masking in un-distanced spaces, the board voted 3-2 to continue with its current language that says masks are merely "recommended."
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After the meeting, I dashed off thank-you emails to the two brave board members who acknowledged their responsibility to LEAD our community during a pandemic.
I then emailed our district's HR director, asking to meet (via Zoom) to discuss the accommodations I will need to protect myself and the 91-year-old mother-in-law I care for.
Enough.
Be well.
Write.
Allison
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| It is still winter in NZ. Wolf is asleep near the fire. |
Oh, the frustrations and heartbreak of this time! Thanks for sharing your story.
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