Facing the challenges ahead for school

When I first took office in January 2011, like most elected officials I had little idea what my position would entail. County Superintendent of Schools is an unusual position. While my duties are outlined in statute, what the job requires on the ground varies widely by county and is certainly different from what principals and hired superintendents do on a day-to-day basis.

In my position, I serve as the sole administrator for Sunset School in Greenough and Woodman School on Highway 12. Depending on district needs in any given year, I assist and collaborate with administrators and school boards at Swan Valley, Seeley Lake, Potomac and DeSmet schools. As I enter my 10th school year as Missoula County Superintendent of Schools, I have never felt more unsure of the impact of the decisions I make as a school leader elected to serve rural Missoula County.

In a typical year, as August rolls into September, parents are eager to send their children back to school after a little too much family togetherness. Dedicated teachers, passionate and committed to a profession of public service, busily prepare for their arrival. Students are excited to see their friends and, whether they admit it or not, are ready for new routines and intellectual stimulation. And everyone simultaneously bemoans the death of summer, such a glorious season in our majestic state. But this year is anything but typical, and returning to school is fraught with anxiety and fear for the health and safety of all members of our community.

Our lives have been upended for almost six months, and we all want a return to normalcy. School reopening represents just that. Parents and educators know that children need to socialize with their peers, and that this interruption of learning will have long-lasting repercussions - both for the individual child and the community as a whole. This knowledge competes with fear for our own health and that of our families.

What is a school administrator to do? Missoula County administrators have collaborated all summer with one another and the Missoula City-County Health Department to develop reopening plans that are responsive to the specific community served and grounded in the best scientific and public health knowledge we currently have. To keep our children, teachers, families, elders and neighbors safe AND keep schools open, the entire community must engage in specific, proven practices to reduce the spread of COVID-19: frequent handwashing, wearing face coverings, minimizing the size of our social circles, physical distancing and immunization.

My commitment to you is that wherever I have influence in this strange, little understood position of Missoula County Superintendent of Schools, I will promote the practices outlined above. Keeping teachers safe allows schools to operate, parents to work and the economy to recover. School and society won't look like it did one year ago, but with your partnership, our children can still grow, learn and play in the healthiest and safest school environments we are currently able to provide.