Executive Viewpoint - Dr. Richard Abernathy

EXECUTIVE

Viewpoint

For Leadership

How many of you were prepared for the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning? I am sure the answer is….no one! Just remember: • Victims believe adversity is BAD. • Leaders believe adversity is a time for growth, opportunity and • possibility.

There is a big difference in how people will view COVID-19 five years from now. I’m sure that five years from now we will have many more options for parents to choose on how best to educate their children. Families may be able to vacation during “off season” times. We may have school districts who have teachers who are highly successful in teaching on-line courses. There may be others hired who will be highly successful in blended learning opportunities and still others who will be traditional teachers. We will most likely have non-traditional methods for feeding kids even during the summer or holiday breaks. We may not have to put kids on a bus for three hours every day to “go to” school. We may be able to run our educational programs year-round to meet various needs. Our educator preparation programs may change dramatically as well. Dr. Richard Abernathy AAEA Executive Director

This situation is impacting more than just schools and changes will be occurring in other areas as well. We will have parents who know the work our teachers are putting into their child and will have a renewed respect for our profession. We will have families who have reconnected with each other and actually learned to communicate with each other again. We will have policy makers who realize that the internet is an essential utility and can no longer be throttled back by providers or other obstacles. We will have seen the benefit of telemedicine for a healthy workforce, community including kids. We will see that we need to focus a little more on church and less on sports. We will remember, or learn, to cook more at home and enjoy family time. We will learn that we do not have to constantly “go” somewhere.

We will see many more changes over the next five years that will be a result of COVID-19, and at the end of the day we will be better. Our educational system will be stronger and it will be from leaders like you who are figuring it out on the fly. The question always comes up on how long this will last and, of course, no one really knows. The thing we do know is that we have to give every student our best effort and find new ways to consistently reach them.