Superintendent's Message
It seems as though I have ended more sentences this year with, “...we are in the middle of a pandemic” than any other statement. It is not meant to provide an excuse but rather to offer comfort and peace of mind to those who struggle with our current state of affairs. Students, parents, and staff members alike have all wrestled with how 2020 is not your typical school year. If you think back to July, we didn’t even know if we were going to be in school come November, and many thought there was a low chance that young people were going to be able to compete in Fall sports. However, as the school year approached, we came together as a school community to offer two safe and effective methods of learning to the young people in Aurora and have successfully completed a fall full of activities ranging from sports to the fine arts.
We are now approaching the midpoint of the second quarter, as a district, we have approximately 75% of the young people in Aurora coming to school for in-person learning (Plan A) five days a week with the other 25% learning through an online option at home (Plan B). These percentages vary based on the various grade bands. As an example, approximately 70% of our K-5 students are coming to school while 30% are working from home. The middle school, grades 6-8, mirror the district average of 75/25, while at Aurora High School approximately 80% of the young people come into AHS five days a week while 20% are working virtually. The point here is that we are fortunate to be able to offer the plan that best fits each student’s needs demonstrating that in Aurora, even during a pandemic, “kids come first.”
Part of the reason for this success is due to the structures we have in place. All schools are taking a multi-layered approach to safety which includes but is not limited to: the use of masks, social distancing, hand sanitizing, student safety shields, use of signs, and use of one-way hallways when able. In grades K-5, young people in online learning follow the same basic ELA and math frameworks that those students follow for in-person learning which ensures a similar learning experience. In grades 6-12, the addition of new technology such as webcams and blue-tooth headsets are used in combination with Chromebooks and SMART boards so Plan B students can virtually be part of each classroom discussion at Harmon and AHS. These structures help to build toward a successful learning environment, but the main reason for our success doesn’t come from the structure as much as it does from the people in our district.
The students seemed to have come back this year with a new appreciation for school. They have shown so much resilience in adapting to the new routines that were required to be in place and really have approached this school year with all of its challenges with an impressive outlook. The staff’s approach to their own work has also set the tone for the year as well. New cleaning protocols put in place by the custodians, safer transportation routines set up by the bus drivers, increased communication from the secretarial staff in the offices, the addition of full-time nurses in each building, and even a new free lunch plan from our food services have all contributed to our success this fall. However, the group contributing the most to our current success in my mind has to be the teachers. They have done a great job of adapting to new learning environments and on some occasions even reinventing lessons and activities in order to meet the needs of their students. Some of our K-5 teachers are teaching only online which was one of the major shifts taking place this fall. We also introduced a new online platform called See Saw in grades K-2 to help with the online learning process. In grades 6-12, all teachers have not only been working with the young people physically in front of them but also with those who are listening in via Google Meet from home. Teachers at Harmon and AHS have collaborated to come up with the best practices to help balance each of these learning environments while at the same time offering an enriching curriculum. Whether you have a kindergartener, a senior, or anyone in-between, I think you will agree with me that the teachers have done an amazing job of helping young people learn in this pandemic. To the teachers’ credit, they have not focused on the curriculum as their priority, but instead on the needs of the young people in the classroom. They have worked to develop relationships with your child first and then allowed the learning to develop from there. This is also a key element of our new strategic vision which is being rolled out for the 2020-2021 school year.
You might think that rolling out a new strategic vision in the middle of a pandemic would be a terrible idea. However, I can’t think of a more important time to make the shift to focus on the whole child and to emphasize the importance of what we call “nurturing the roots” of young people. It all starts with building relationships in order to have a better understanding of what young people know and are able to do. As a reminder, the strategic vision can be found on our district website. When you visit this site, I suspect the first thing you will notice is the paragraph in the center of the homepage. This is the WHY statement or purpose of the strategic vision. Specifically, the second sentence which emphasizes our goal of preparing young people to be successful LEARNERS in an ever-changing world is the focus and can be boiled down to the mantra “AURORA LEARNERS-FUTURE READY.”
The definition of learner can mean different things to different people, so we wanted to be clear in the strategic vision that the term” LEARNER” for the Aurora City School District carries with it some key characteristics including the importance of continual growth. Learning, through the lens of this vision, is less about gaining knowledge through curriculum transfer and more about being able to build on that knowledge and apply it so a young person is better prepared for life. Although developing LEARNERS is the main focus of our strategic vision, we are also targeting six competencies to nurture within young people attending the Aurora City Schools. These six competencies are WHAT the stakeholders in our community have stated are important for young people to develop in grades PK-12.
I encourage you to read more about each of these six competencies in our strategic vision located on our website. However, I did want to at least share the competencies and touch upon why they are important for us to nurture in each young person attending the Aurora Schools.
Empathy
We all know relationships matter and the first step in building relationships is empathy. As one becomes more empathetic, an awareness of others begins to develop which helps to make those relationships stronger.
Critical Thinking
In an ever-changing and complex world, one has to be able to take in information, analyze it, and decide what to do with it. One of the hallmarks of a critical thinker is the ability to stay objective.
Balanced
Being objective also means keeping things in perspective. As all people develop the social-emotional ability to form positive relationships while being self-aware, they walk that balance and lay the groundwork to be lifelong learners.
Resilient
Just as balance equates to perspective, resilience is analogous to persistence. When all people can be put in situations that cause productive struggle, they begin to develop the ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This leads to being more resilient rather than giving up when one doesn’t know the right thing to do, but instead starts to think of what is the next best thing to do.
Collaborative
We all understand the power of collaboration and learning from each other’s experiences. The importance of collaboration can be summed up by the African proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Innovative
To be innovative doesn’t necessarily require cutting-edge technology, but instead it means looking at things in a different way. As all people, both young and adult, begin to bend what they know, break from what is typically done, and blend ideas from different perspectives, they become more innovative in their approach.
With this new strategic vision, the structures and safety protocols we have in place, and most importantly the people who work and learn in each of our school buildings at all grade levels PK-12, I am confident that we will be able to design and support learning environments that meet the needs of all young people...even in this crazy year of 2020 which, after all, is in the middle of a pandemic.
Have a great rest of 2020 and GO GREENMEN!
Mike Roberto
Superintendent