Back to school time
Figuring out what the new normal looks like
The month of August positively flew by. Most of the last few weeks in our family have been spent getting ready for the new school year. Southeast Missouri State University and area public schools resumed classes on Monday, August 24 in the midst of ongoing worries about how to best keep students, staff, and faculty safe and healthy. Weeks of preparation and discussion led to each educational institution crafting a plan designed to meet the needs of that particular organization.
Some schools created online options and others chose to be face to face only. Still others created a hybrid system designed to lower the number of students in the classroom and allow more spacing between desks. This forced some class sections online, meaning that some students will be physically located in the room while others participate in Zoom. This is the path that Southeast chose, causing Lily and all the other professors at the university to adapt all of their syllabi to better match the new format.
They are now two weeks into the new school year. Talking with the educators I know, many of them reported mixed feelings about when and how to come back together. They missed being with their students, but did not want to run the risk of making anyone sick. Those competing concerns continue to inform everything they do. Overall, it seems that the general consensus is everyone is extremely glad to be back together, but operating in the new environment simply takes twice as much effort as it did before.
It is one thing to be able to teach in a classroom. Teaching online requires a totally different approach and course structure. Combining the two in a hybrid model means that every single lesson plan has to be adapted to fit the needs of students who may or may not be physically located in the room.
To make it even more complicated, educators are now serving as health monitors as well. Safety informs every decision. They are making it work and report that most of their students are taking the precautions seriously. For example, the students at Southeast know firsthand how disruptive it was to have to go home halfway through the semester. They simply want to stay on campus as long as it is safe to do so.
Parallels with the church world
What is true in the educational world is proving true in the church world as well. We are working hard to figure out how to balance in person worship and activities with online ministry. Like many congregations, several of the most reliable volunteers and participants are the very same people who are most susceptible to infection. Learning how to keep them safe and connected to the life of the community has been one of the most difficult endeavors I have encountered in ministry.
We are not getting everything right and there have been a lot of lessons learned along the way, but overall I am happy with the way things have been going. Unfortunately, I will admit that I am more tired than I have been in a long, long time. I know I am not alone in this. Many of my clergy colleagues report precisely the same phenomenon.
We still have a long way to go before this challenging season is behind us, but I am incredibly grateful for the new school year marking the return of at least some small version of normal life. It is my prayer that everyone in our community is able to stay safe and sound through this difficult and unsettling transitional period.
