A Message from Mrs. Goodine, Mowrey Elementary Principal, as we reflect on the past year......
One year ago today we said good bye to our Mowrey learners for what we thought was two weeks. Later to find out we would not see then again face to face for five months.
One year ago today our world of education was forced to change in an instant. Looking back and reflecting on how far we have come is simply remarkable. I have never been so proud of my staff, my learners, their families and our community.
The past year I have watched my teachers be forced out of their comfort zone and challenged in more ways than I can count. Each time they rose to the challenges. This was not without stress, anxiety, and at times some tears. Yet we pushed on for our learners. The amount of personal and professional growth that has occurred in one year is unfathomable.
I have watched our para educators do the same as their role vastly changed from in class support to online support. Pushing them to embrace technology in ways they never would have before.
To our parents, when our world changed so did yours. The gratitude we have for your hard work and dedication to your children is immeasurable. We thank you for your continued support, encouragement, and grace as we have navigated this past year. We would not be here one year later without you!
To the parents, teacher, and staff who balanced working from home while being a parent and learning facilitator at the same time... we are in awe of you. You are a hero to us and your children. There is no doubt the past year may have been one of the hardest year of our lives, but we made it through.
To our learners, you have displayed the true meaning of resiliency! Over the past year many people have expressed concerns that you would fall behind. But over the past year you have learned and mastered skills we never would have imagined. You have developed technology skills to video conference, annotate and share PDFs, create and collaborate on Google docs and Google sides. The list could go on! Your learning environment changed right before your eyes and you didn’t miss a beat.
We are blessed here at Mowrey to have been face to face for over 100 days this year. This is in part to our dedicated maintenance, custodial and cafeteria staff for going above and beyond every day to ensure our building is safe and learners are well fed. Thank you our stellar technology department for doing everything in their power to make sure our teachers, staff, and learners have everything they need to be successful from devices, to bandwidth, to online platforms and programs. A special thanks to our district leaders and school board who made the brave choice for us to return to face to face instruction. Although it may not have been a popular decision and caused some fear and anxiety, we made it and our learners have had over 100 days of “masked” smiles. Special Shout out to my fellow principals and administrators out there who worked tirelessly to develop, adjust, and implement building plans to ensure the safety of our learners on a daily basis.
To all educators out there….each and every one of you have all worked harder in the past year than you have any other year of your career. Always remember, every day is worth it to make a difference in the lives of our children. You are all rock stars, heroes, and unicorns! Never underestimate how important you are in the lives of your learners every day you step foot in your building, your classroom, or your virtual classroom.