Good Morning, Reading Public School Community,
Below are the Opening Day remarks for our initial district wide staff meeting.
Good Morning!
Before I begin this morning, let’s take a couple of minutes and pay tribute to and remember those families that we know who are sick or who have lost their love ones during this pandemic. Rylee Landeau, a sixteen year old filmmaker from New York City produced this film called Growing Up Covid.
Thank you. On behalf of our administrators and Directors, I would like to welcome you to a unique and unprecedented start to the 2020-2021 school year. One hundred sixty-six days ago on March 13th we left our classrooms, offices, workspaces and schools for what we thought was a temporary pause to the 2019-2020 school year. As the spring commenced, we learned the pause became permanent for the rest of the year. Education, as we know it, has changed forever. During the spring, we persevered, shifted our school model on the fly, and began to teach remotely. As teachers, you focused your work connecting with students, taking care of their foundational needs, and acclimated yourselves and your students to the new world of remote learning. We made the best of the experience for our students with virtual ceremonies, concerts, car parades, drive by yearbook distributions, and culminated our year with a beautiful and inspirational graduation ceremony in person on our Football Field in late July. At that point, we began to find hope again.
I never had the opportunity last spring to address all of you, but I want to take a moment now to thank you for what you did. You had to navigate through a pandemic, learn remote learning, and engage students, while juggling your own personal family situations. Your efforts were amazing and I am honored and proud to work with such a dedicated group of educators.
What we have experienced over the last five and a half months could never have been predicted and in some ways, has come out of a Stephen King novel. As a society, we have dealt with the terrible impact of the pandemic, including illness and lost lives, fear and anxiety, unemployment, and uncertainty. We became isolated from our friends and families, masks have become the norm, and zoom has become our lifelines to others. We have also watched in horror and anger as our country is wrestling with racial equity and social justice issues. The deaths of George Floyd and Breona Taylor earlier this summer and the latest incident with Jacob Blake in Wisconsin has solidified the Black Lives Matter movement and have ignited our passion to reexamine how we educate all of our students, in particular our students of color.
Although our lives have been turned upside down, become unpredictable, and the goal posts continue to be moved, our school district has dealt with each challenge head on, risen above the crisis, and focused on what is important…the health, safety, and well being of our staff and students. To that end, I want to thank the Reading Teachers Association, led by President Eric Goldstein, the RTA Executive Board and Negotiating Teams and all of the teachers who volunteered their time and energy on the many working groups that we had this summer. Because of your efforts, we have a very kid centered and safety focused fall reopening plan that thoughtfully phases in our staff and students. I also want to commend the work of our ESY staff who were officially our first group back with students. This group did an amazing job with all of the new health and safety standards that have been put in place. The students were very receptive to the changes and helped prepare them for this fall.
I also want to recognize all of the work that happened this summer behind the scenes that kept our district going. The Reading Public Schools was busier than normal and we have had many unsung heroes who have continued to do their job during this pandemic and do it well. Please permit me a few moments to recognize the efforts of this group.
First, I want to recognize the efforts of our Facilities Department, who has never left during the pandemic. This group, led by Director of Facilities Joe Huggins, Assistant Director of Facilities Kevin Cabuzzi, Custodian Supervisor Kevin Gerstner and our custodians and maintenance staff have done yeoman’s work in cleaning and disinfecting our schools, upgrading and maintaining our ventilation systems, constructing lexan glass shields in high traffic areas, installing hand sanitizer dispensers in every classroom, and setting up every classroom for appropriate six foot social distancing. Our food service department, led by Danielle Collins, have distributed food to hundreds of students weekly through our seamless summer program. Danielle has also been given the challenge of reimagining lunch in this new era of education and has done an amazing job. Our technology department, led by Julian Carr have been imaging hundreds of computers for students who need them for this school year. Starting on Wednesday over 800 computers and wifi hot spots will be distributed to students who need them for the start of the school year. Our school nurses, led by Director Mary Giuliana have been supporting the town health department all summer tracking COVID cases for our community. Our secretaries have worked diligently behind the scenes to assure that orders are being placed, communication is being sent out, student schedules are ready to go, and all of our usual back to school preparation is on track. All of these departments have stepped up to the plate, risen above the crisis, and have done their job.
Last, but certainly not least, there is a group that deserves special recognition, have gone above and beyond the call of duty and have kept our school district focused and ready for this new challenge. Our Principals, Assistant Principals, Directors, Team Chairs and Central Office Administrators have been working non-stop, seven days a week since March 13th. They have been truly living the roller coaster ride of this summer, first trying to close out last school year, while building the infrastructure for this upcoming school year. They have had to deal with every challenge you can imagine including anxious staff, concerned parents, planning classroom setups, dealing with delayed state guidance, all while planning for this new world. Our Central Office Administrators of Gail Dowd, Chris Kelley, Jen Stys, and all of our Central Office support staff have been diligently preparing our district for the complex world of special education, PPE, staff training, HR, curriculum and instruction, budget and procurement, and grant funding. Without their leadership and support, our schools would not have been ready to start the school year.
For our unsung heroes, here is a song for you. Two Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeons, Elvis Francois, and William Robinson provide an inspirational interlude during the COVID-19 pandemic for fellow health care workers and people in communities across the U.S.
When you have a moment, please thank our unsung heroes, give them a virtual high five or virtual hug. They truly deserve it.
We have also had some very happy moments this summer. Please meet the newest members of our Reading Public School family:
- Meet Katie Maloney, daughter of Coolidge Special Education Teacher Maggie Moloney
- Elizabeth Marie Conant, daughter of Joshua Eaton Teacher Brittany Conant
- Rebecca Rose Elliott, granddaughter of Killam Paraeducator Denise Iozzo
- Karina Wistrom, daughter of Coolidge music/chorus teacher Lisa Wistrom
- We also want to congratulate Barrows Teacher Kara Engelson and Killam Teacher Kameka Rees who each got married over the summer.
Congratulations to all of you!
Today, each of us our entering Day 1 of training with a whole set of emotions. What I would like you to do for the next two minutes is to think of one word that describes your emotions for today. Add that one word in the chat room.
Read some of them.
The word that I would have written is excited or hopeful.
Keep your word in mind as we continue with this opening session. I would now like to introduce to you a very special guest who is going to give us a pep talk. Take it away, kid!
Thanks, Kid. The year that we are facing will not be normal by any stretch of the means. It is possible and most likely probable that we will be phasing in and out of remote and hybrid and maybe even in person throughout this year. Let’s keep in mind that we did not create the virus, but, unfortunately, we are going to need to deal with the virus. We will be able to navigate the waters of this year by rising above the crisis and doing the best we can. What I have learned this summer is that there is no perfect solution to any challenge we will be facing. None of us learned this in our education or leadership courses and there are no blueprints, road maps or protocols that have the magical solutions that work for everyone.
I truly believe that what will take us through this upcoming school year are not books and theories, but the intangibles: teamwork, listening to understand differences, and communication. We are going to need to work together, support each other, and share with each other like we never have before.
To highlight my points, I want to show you some video clips from a movie that is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this month. It is a Disney movie, of course, and it is called Remember the Titans. I find this movie especially relevant right now given the social justice issues that we are facing in our country.
To give you some context for those of you that have not seen it, the movie is based upon the true story of the TC Williams Titans High School Football Team and demonstrates how sports could help overcome social differences, stereotypes and racism and unite people in victory both on and off the field. Based on actual events that took place in 1971, a white southern high school is integrated with black students from a nearby school. Both schools are recognized for their football programs which are now unified. The black coach (played by Denzel Washington) is chosen to be the head coach of the integrated team, leaving the previous white head coach (Played by Will Patton) with feelings of animosity at having to be an assistant under a black man. In this first clip, the team is in its beginning weeks and they are all attending a summer football camp near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
In many ways, we are similar to the Titan football team. We are entering new and unfamiliar territory, the tools from before may not work, we are putting in long hours, and we are anxious and afraid because we want to do the best job we can do and we do not want to fail. We are relearning school and in some ways, we are opening up two schools at the same time; one virtual and one in person. At various times of the year, the number of students in each school may change and we will need to be flexible and adjust.
As the movie continues, the Titans began to overcome the challenges of race and equality but they continue to face roadblocks and challenges along the way. Not only were they trying to work out their differences internally, but there were societal differences outside of the team. The community was not used to an integrated school or an integrated football team. Eventually, the team started to gel. Here is a pregame warmup from their first game.
Throughout this school year, teamwork, taking risks, making mistakes, recognizing those mistakes and learning from those mistakes are going to be as critical as ever. No one on this call alone has the answers. However, collectively, we do. This is where the teamwork, the collaboration, and the communication, both listening and speaking up, are going to be critical. In the next scene of the movie, the team is losing at halftime in the championship game, and for a moment, they do not know what to do.
The Titans won the championship that evening. And we will too.
All of us are going to feel like first year teachers and administrators again. And at times, we are going to feel lost and uncertain. Here are some principles to keep in mind as we navigate these waters.
- Make connections with students-This will be the most important thing that you do this year. Use the orientation and first weeks of schools as a way to connect. This will build trust, help students feel comfortable, and they will become more engaged throughout the year.
- Start with the outcome you want to achieve. Then choose the best technology tool for that. Ask yourself, “What is it that I’m trying to achieve, and what is the best tool to help me meet that goal?” Do you want to keep your students engaged during online classes? Are you trying to create more buffer time for yourself when moving from one activity to the other? Are you trying to maximize class time? Answering these kinds of questions is a good way to figure out which tools to focus on learning.
- Technology is a tool to support learning — not the focus of learning itself. The learning outcome matters more than the tool. Draw kids’ focus on the skills the kids are practicing, not the tech tools.
- Use tech to enhance, not dominate, what you’re already doing. You don’t need to replace every activity with an app! Sometimes the best tool for learning is something low tech or no tech at all.
- Use what you love and don’t abandon what works for the next shiny new thing. Don’t waste your time and energy chasing every app out there that’s supposed to be fun and cool.
- Be willing to learn through experimentation rather than formal training. You don’t need formal training to jump in and explore what’s out there. Plenty of the resources available to teachers today are intuitive.
I want to emphasize something else that is critical to the success of this year. We believe in each one of you and I know the work that you are going to do this year is going to be amazing. Because, that is who you are…caring dedicated teachers who want to do what is best for students. We have an opportunity as a school district to do something really special for both our virtual students who may not be able to come to school right now and our in person students who may be attending school for the first time or who may have needs that require greater attention.
We also know that the transition is going to be different for each of you as we navigate from virtual to hybrid. Please know that we are all here to support you. My advice is to be like a swimmer who doesn’t like the cold water. Dip your toe in the water first, then your entire foot, then your legs, then your waist, and then eventually, you will wet your hair. Our schools are open and we encourage you to come in once in a while and teach from your classrooms. We are here to support you.
I would like to conclude my remarks on this note. This is my final opening day speech as Superintendent of the Reading Public Schools. Over my 33 years as an educator in this school district and the last 11 as Superintendent, I have seen a lot of changes in education, nothing like what we are experiencing right now and probably never will again. However, what I have learned throughout my career is the caring and hard working attitude of our teachers, paraeducators, secretaries, food service, custodians, administrators, and directors. Your moral compass has always been for what is best for kids and I am confident that we will overcome that mountain of a challenge in front of us. It has been an honor and a priviledge to serve as your Superintendent and I will do everything possible this year to support you and the great work that we are doing.
To conclude this session, I want to play one last video clip. When I hear this song, I automatically think of Remember the Titans. Rather than show the locker room scene where this song was played in the movie, I am showing the original song video clip.
This school year, there will not be a mountain high enough or a river wide enough that we can’t overcome. We can do this and I am excited to be able to climb those mountains and navigate those waters with you.
On behalf of the Reading Public Schools, enjoy your 10 days of training and have a great start to your school year.
Thank you.
The Journey-The Next Chapter 