As September comes to a close educators should make time and look back at the start of the 2021-22 school year. How are students doing? Are lesson plans going smoothly? What adjustments should be made before the winter holidays begin to break-up the educational flow of the year? It has been a unique start to a school year and hopefully educators are doing their best to ensure an excellent education experience after the challenges of the past year.
Best Practices: Clean & Protect
Sanitation has been the mantra since the onset of the pandemic. From hand sanitizer being made available, upgrades to aging HVAC systems, personal protective equipment like face masks, gloves, and shields, schools and districts have made it their priority to implement best practices to provide a safe learning environment.
Breakthrough: Vaccines
It is imperative that the development of COVID vaccines be acknowledged as the pivot point in the pandemic. Development continues now, and will continue in the future, as it is in the nature of the virus to mutate into different variants, and the scientific community must maintain pace in order to prevent further deadly outbreaks.
Be in the Know: Testing
This is one test we can all get behind. It is the only way to know with great certainty if an individual is infected with COVID. Results from testing help to alert those who may have been exposed to be observant for possible symptom development. Schools should be leaders in testing for COVID for the safety and security of all. Here's to hoping that every test may be a negative one.
Winter Surge: Be Sure
As people take steps to protect themselves from COVID, overconfidence and complacency could become norm. This would be a dangerous setback to all the work that has been achieved specially as winter arrives and people begin to socialize during the holidays and try to make up for time lost to last year's lockdowns. Cold, Flu, COVID, which is it? Symptoms are very similar for all three so it is best to be sure which it is.
Manuel R. CortezRodas - Educator
Copyright 2021. MRCR Educational Consulting Firm. All Rights Reserved.
