One More "Schooling" Post

No, not that kind, although I plan to get in a good schooling ride or two today. No, this is just another school-related post. I have horse stuff to write about - like the awesome lesson I had earlier this week, but right now, elementary school is really on my mind.

Yesterday, my district declared that our school campuses will remain closed for the duration of this academic school year. I am hugely disappointed and desperately worried about my kiddos, but it is what it is. 

The laptop crew - yes that's me at the bottom with my mask.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I worked with a few other teachers, office staff, and our custodial crew to distribute Chromebooks to those families that needed a device. Parents formed lines out on the basketball courts to complete paperwork, and then they lined up at the entrance to our cafeteria. Their child's teacher's name and the student's laptop number were called out. Then one of us scurried to that teacher's Charger On Wheels (COW) where we located the correct laptop. The custodians disinfected the laptop, we added a charging cable, and all of it was stuffed into a plastic bag for distribution. 

We took each assembled kit to our librarian who recorded the Chromebook's ID number, and then the laptop was handed out to the family over a barricade located at a different door. We essentially had a "place your order" window and a separate "pick up" window. The whole thing worked quite smoothly while helping everyone maintain appropriate social distance.  

I have to say, except for one complete idiot, it was a really rewarding experience. At least a third of my own students made an appearance, so it was great to see them and have them see me. While I don't know every student at our school, I know enough of them that my cheery wave and hidden smile brought out a shy smile from them as well.

Me in red with my colleague waving in the back.

After handing out Chromebooks, I zipped on over to one of our Junior High Schools to hand out meal packs. Our kitchen chefs and bakers are doing an awe-inspiring job of feeding thousands and thousands and thousands of kids each day; we're serving meals at ten of our schools. I helped hand out lunches last week, but that was on a much smaller scale. At the school where I worked on Thursday, the kitchen staff - with help from some of the custodians, prepped and bagged more than 2,000 meals which were ready to hand out by 11:00 a.m. Besides myself, two other of my school's teachers showed up to distribute them. 

The kitchen crew rolled out tray after tray of meals which included that day's lunch paired with the next morning's breakfast. At the top of the drive through lane, one of the kitchen staff recorded the child head count while Mrs. G., one of our 4th grade teachers, yelled out the number of meals needed. It was then up to Ms. C., one of our 6th grade teachers, or me to grab the number of meal bags needed and hand them through the window. Every single carload of kids got a cheery hello and a have a great day! as they passed through the meal line.

At the end of an hour and a half, Ms. C. and I had collectively handed out more than a thousand meal packs through more car windows than I could count. Some families came though needing a single meal pack, but many needed up to five or seven!

By 1:00, I was wiped out. I had handed our Chromebooks and meals for more than 4 straight hours. It was a good tired though. Then I went home and answered tons of questions in the Google Classroom, answered another half dozen parent questions in ParentSquare, and then talked to several more students on the phone.

I love my job, but I am really glad Spring Break starts today at 12:37!