What Will School Look Like in 2020-21-Reflections from a WA Superintendent

What will school look like in 20-21?

I've been asked this question countless times in the past two months; from community members, families, students and staff. I keep notes, personally, of words that inspire me or make me think....During the 99-2000 school year, a former colleague and friend, Col. Chuck Sweeney, in a particular challenging time, encouraged me with the following words....he said, "Andy, the best leaders never miss an opportunity to use a crisis or challenge, to make their situation...the world around them better for the people they are leading. Have the courage to be one of those leaders!" I loved Chuck. He was one of the smartest guys I'd ever encountered...and he talked a lot. He went on to tell numerous stories about how leaders from history and worldwide, had used a crisis/challenge to make things better.

Here's what I know about the future of public education in America....our schools aren't good enough. Not just my district....but NO district in America. Our kids deserve better. Our families deserve better. Our community deserves better. Our teachers and educators deserve better. This is in no way a negative indictment on the excellent folks working in public education today...we all are doing our very best in the environment that we've grown up in, were trained in, were teaching/leading in. That environment no longer exists and will not return.

What will school look like in 20-21??

The past is gone. We will never return to a pre-COVID19 world in education. This isn't a "doomsday" fear or prediction based on the news from the left or the right....but rather a HOPE!

I believe we've learned some valuable lessons through this pandemic and will continue to learn as we emerge from it.

Some thoughts....

1) Comprehensive high schools, "one size fits all" models are fundamentally broken. They have served the roll they were created to play (over 100 years ago)...that is no longer our world. We need schools filled with educational options that support kids in chasing their dreams to prepare for a world after high school that we can't even imagine yet. We need kids learning in classrooms, through business and industry, at home, in apprenticeships and in partnership with colleges, the trades and military.

2) Project based/experiential learning is the way of the future...it's actually been known for decades, but we haven't allowed the system to flex to accommodate this approach to scale.

3) Schools and teachers who can't find ways to partner with families are damned to a lower level of success. We've learned through this pandemic the value of school/parent partnerships and teamwork and must continue to grow these vital relationships moving forward.

4) All or nothing is lose/lose: We are going to have to, for some time, be flexible about attendance. School apportionment based on student attendance in seats is ludicrous and does not measure a thing. We must value schools and education based on helping kids grow, and to increase what they know and are able to do. This may happen in a classroom, may happen with fabulous blended learning at home, and may happen by empowering our kids to learn independently/small groups in the way that makes the most sense for them. Presence does NOT equal learning/growing.

5) Go to the kids: Door to door food service, at home delivery, online devices, increased personalization. We've learned so much about the power of meeting kids where they are instead of requiring them to come to us.

6) Public policy in inextricably linked to public education. I continue to be dismayed at national, state and local leaders who don't get this. The "lock down" decision was relatively simple. The "start up plan" is complex as hell. The problem, from my perspective, is that our leaders are looking at start up decisions in isolation from one another. Education and what is "happening" with our nation's kids are the linchpin of all other considerations. Similarly, the success of failure of public education continues to be the civil rights issue of my lifetime. We need local, state and national leaders who make policy, decisions and legislate considering all the variables....rather than making decisions in a silo by whichever lobbyist is currently screaming loudest. This statement cuts deeply on both the left and the right and is intended to do so.

As my old friend Chuck (RIP) encouraged me to do, so many years ago..."never miss an opportunity to use a crisis or challenge, to make our situation...the world around us better."

I pray that each of us are thinking about our future, post COVID-19, through his lens....I truly believe it will allow us to create better schools, stronger communities, and a stronger nation than we've ever experienced before.

For Kids-

Andrew (Andy) Kelly-Superintendent, North Beach School District