* * Keeping public education alive in challenging times

These are stressful and difficult times for everybody, but perhaps none more than our children and the folks who educate them.

So I called to Mark Miear, Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools, to see how they were fairing. Happily, the answer is, surprisingly well. Good leadership and dedication are why.

“Our team really pulled together,” he began, “at the first days of hearing about the pandemic. We were planning the possibility of a shut-down three weeks before the order came down from the Governor on March 13^th. We were thinking about having to close ourselves. We got all our various operations managers together and created a plan for continuing to educate and feed our kids.

We were perhaps the only school system that was feeding our kids two meals every day starting Monday because we already had a plan. We worked with our teachers to have academic plans in place to educate them remotely, beginning that Wednesday after the Monday we closed.

“About four years ago, we invested in Chromebooks for every student, and we’ve been working with Google Classroom since then. So it was an easier transition to fully remote teaching. Teachers have done a great job getting assignments out.

“We are delivering food from six schools (Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Eastern Montgomery, and Auburn High Schools and Blacksburg and Christiansburg Middle Schools) and send aids on buses with the drivers to give lunch and breakfast in the same drop-off. We’re delivering breakfasts and lunches to 5000 children every weekday. The Governor and State Superintendent suggested that school systems continue to feed the kids. We have a summer feeding program which we expanded with delivery by bus. We can deliver to any kid at any income status. We’re even feeding children who are home-schooled or in private schools. This is reimbursable by the federal government.”

I asked about the educational side, and what schooling the kids are now missing.

Miear said, “It was actually a good time for us, because the shut-down occurred at the end of our third quarter. Basically, this is the last 9 weeks that we’re doing with distance learning. We’re meeting our educational goals. In grades K-2, teachers are mailing packages home. In grades 3-12, we have about 6000 students and only 500 didn’t have internet. So we’ve supplied many of them with a ‘hot-spot’ to get internet access at home, one per family. This is not the school system we grew up with.

“In this crisis, we’re still educating kids and feeding kids. I got an email yesterday from a parent moving here from Virginia Beach. There, the school system stopped educating the kids and they plan to add 15 minutes every day to make up for lost time. We’re progressive not only for Southwest Virginia but for the entire state.

“When the Chromebooks arrived, we required our teachers to learn to use them. We were preparing for this pandemic without even knowing it. I appreciate the School Board being supportive of this and the Board of Supervisors for their votes to fund it. Some members questioned whether it was worth it. Now we see other school systems trying to catch up, to buy computers that our kids already have. And there are none to be bought.

“Competence and funding matter. We have shown that government funding is important. We finally got a state budget advantageous to public education the first since prior to the recession twelve years ago. Now we’re concerned about that. We have people representing us who are supportive of public education.

“If there has ever been a time when we’ve seen the value of teachers, it’s now. They have had to switch the way they teach in just a couple of weeks, and they’ve been successful at it. And I’ve seen lots of praise from parents.

“This food delivery program hasn’t just been about the food. It’s been about the kids keeping contact with drivers and aids from their school. Kids are excited to see the buses. It’s their one daily sense of normalcy. Kids are doing chalk signs on their sidewalks in appreciation. They’re making signs. It’s pretty special. We have a special group of teachers and staff.”

Miear said he hopes the pandemic will end and they can get back to normal in the fall. But, “We can extend if we have to. We will always be devoted to educating our kids. We will always give them the knowledge and skills they need to move forward in life. Education is too important. We can’t let kids fall behind.

“There is nothing like face-to-face interaction in education. But we have a system that works in the meantime. And we’ll improve on it. This pandemic will change education permanently. It’s hard to change people in any profession. We’re thinking about new ways to do things, but we’re moving forward.”