I have always known that we live in an exceptional school district — but never has that been more clear than over the past three months. You, your staff, the principals, the school staff and our amazing teachers have done an extraordinary job under the most difficult of circumstances. I don’t think any of us can really fully understand the mountain of challenges that you have been faced with in trying to educate our kids safely and effectively, while managing every constituency and answering countless questions and concerns. But you have done it with grace and thoughtfulness from the beginning. I truly feel as though we have been kept informed, we have been heard, we have been respected, and most importantly — our kids have been the priority of every administrator, every teacher and every staff member.
With one child in hybrid learning at ARHS and one doing the Melican Stand Alone Remote program, I have had the chance to see how smoothly both programs are running (at least from our perspective!)—and how dedicated our teachers are in every learning environment. I appreciate that we were given a choice, and that it was not a “lesser of a two evils” choice, but a “which is the right environment for my child” choice.
Switching from online to in person cannot be easy on the teachers. Reinventing lesson plans to work in for remote teaching, keeping kids engaged and interested, balancing work loads to make sure kids are challenged but not overwhelmed…. I know it is taking an unprecedented amount of time, energy and creative thinking, and our teachers have risen to the challenge.
While nothing is perfect and you will never be able to satisfy everyone, I just want you to know that my husband and I think that our district has been a shining example of how to make it work.
With gratitude,
Marile and Dave Borden