When the going gets tough

The closure of schools in the different communities has not been easy for parents, students and staff of schools. But during these tough times, there are those who see good come out of this difficult situation.

“Above all else through this closure, I miss being able to interact and work with the students in our district,” Drew Leach Carbon County School District No 2 (CCSD2) psychologist said. “A large portion of my role as the District School Psychologist is to interact with the kids and help them with whatever they may have going on in their lives and that has been difficult to do without having the children in the schools.”

Although Leach said it has been hard to not have students to interact with on a day to day basis, he sees positive happenings from this crisis.

“I have been so impressed by how our school staff members, parents of our students and our communities as a whole have stepped up and gotten the job done to provide an education for our students despite the current situation,” Leach observed. “My primary message through these difficult times is to keep a positive mindset about everything going on in the world. To our students, I miss you all so very much and I hope that I will get to see you all soon.”

Darrin Jennings, principal of Saratoga Middle/High School, has been impressed with how the community has come together when so much has been shut down.

“I am amazed by the work done by our teachers, students and parents during this difficult time,” Jennings commented “Wyoming is a great place with great people and when times are difficult we pull together and I am amazed by how well we pulled together in such a short period of time. Blessed to be here in CCSD2 and blessed to live in Wyoming.”

Robin Brown, the CCSD2 Special Education Director, has praise for all the effort she has seen over the past weeks by all effected by the closure.

“I would like to reach out a note to those staff members and parents that are working so hard for our students. I know teachers that have put in hours and hours beyond what they normally would in order to ensure that learning continues for all of our students,” Brown said. “Our special education teachers have had to prepare lessons and distance learning like all teachers but then had to work even harder to develop new independent plans for each student to make sure individual needs are being met. They all did this without a word of complaint and they understood that we continue to do what is best for kids whether we are in school or not.”

Brown has been impressed with parents efforts.

“The parents we work with have been phenomenal in helping their kids and being supportive of the staff. It has been amazing to see everyone working together for our kids,” Brown said.

On a personal level, she longs to see the students.

“I miss being able to hop into a classroom to see the smiling, learning faces of our students and I can’t wait to get back to the schools,” Brown said. “I get the privilege of working with kids and staff across the district and I truly miss these people.”

She understands the closure of student activities has been rough on students but looks forward to when the closure is over.

“As a coach of a fall sport, I reach out to those students that did not get to participate in spring sports. I have several players that had very high goals for their track careers that were not able to reach those goals this year,” Brown empathized. “I also had several that were ready to work in the off season to prepare for the fall and they are now having to do that on their own. I’m ready to get back in the gym and work harder than ever.”

Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow High School Principal Steve Priest has positive words for CCSD2 staff.

“We are definitely in a new time for education. Our staff should be commended for all of their hard work,” Priest said. “They have worked to retool their courses and make lessons that can be done remotely, with or without the internet. The teachers did this in a week’s time.”

He acknowledges it has not been easy to deal with the closure.

“We know we may have hiccups and bumps in the road but we are here for our students to help them continue their learning,” Priest said. “We will work through the issues and help them along the way. It will be a learning process for us all.”

CCSD2 Superintendent Dr. Jim Copeland has seen his staff, parents and students pull together during a time when the situation could have caused serious breakdowns in education.

“These are extraordinary times for sure!” Copeland commented. “We are all trying to adapt as much as possible - whether administrators, teachers, coaches, students, and/or parents. My main goal is for the district and our staff to do everything we can to keep the personal connections to our students that we take for granted in normal times.”

He is encouraged with what has taken place so far during the school closures.

“We are a small rural district, so our connections tend to be strong with students, parents and stakeholders,” Copeland said. “It will take an extra effort to maintain those during this time of separation. From what I’ve observed during our first week of implementing our State-approved Adapted Learning Plan the interest and engagement has been strong.  We had 100 percent engagement of students last week, measured by some type of connection with our students (online, phone, email, etc.)  Our challenge will be to continue that strong engagement for our students.”

The words may sound cliché to some, but in times of adversity, people show what they are made of. In CCSD2, the verdict seems to be, this district is made of steel.