fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

New Paltz teachers and administrators are rising to the challenge of teaching during a pandemic

by Terence P. Ward
January 28, 2021
in Education
0
In-person learning delayed once again in New Paltz

New Paltz High School. (Photo by Dion Ogust)

The coronavirus pandemic has been traumatic for every school-age child. That’s one of the working assumptions being used by school officials who have adapted educational and emotional support systems for a world of isolation and unequal access to the school community. While that trauma varies in intensity, disruptions are commonplace and if there’s any routine at all, it’s been completely reinvented. Not every child finds that learning by sitting at a computer for hours on end comes easily — although some have really benefited from this model — and many students didn’t have adequate access to the technology they have needed to learn, or a quiet environment in which to focus. For some children, staying home all day hasn’t even been especially safe, but most are expected to have diminished stamina for classroom learning after such a long break.

Nearly a year has passed since schools were shuttered without notice or preparation, it’s very clear that these are the challenges that educators face. School board members asked for an update on how teachers and administrators are rising to that challenge, and the impacts that will be felt in the months and years to come. During the January 20 board meeting, those questions were addressed by a team led by Michelle Martoni, the deputy superintendent.

Social and emotional support

Social and emotional supports include counseling services for students, offered to individuals or groups as needs and resources warrant. Check-ins with students occur as needed, along with family consultations that may include referrals to outside agencies. Social workers also conduct home visits as needed when students are absent from remote learning sessions.

There’s been coaching sessions on how and why to wear masks, especially for the younger students. Counselors were already tasked with incorporating mental health lessons in the curriculum for all ages; this has become all the more important with some or all students away from the building and experiencing isolation.

A monthly newsletter to staff members fills inboxes with information on wellness.

Flexibility is key

The massive school bureaucracy has had to have an injection of flexibility under these difficult circumstances. Students may need to be switched to a cohort that meets at a different time to fit with their ability to use technology, for example. Creative ways to provide access for remote learning have also been invented on the fly, such as bringing small numbers into the building to do their online work under the supervision of a teacher’s aide.

Bus drivers have had their roles completely retooled. Instead of bringing children to the schools, they deliver messages to the families of ones who are difficult to reach, or even printed learning packets to kids who just can’t do work on computers at this time.

Recognizing a need

Among the biggest challenges going forward, Martoni said, are lack of engagement and uneven learning progress during the pandemic.

Instructional support and case management teams focus on helping children who struggle with remote learning, or who have an environment that makes it harder to manage for them. Teachers are often willing to significantly increase their own workload by finding time to help individual students catch up when they are available. They also use breakout rooms to provide individualized instruction during class time; that’s the equivalent of standing at one child’s desk while others work independently. Additional resources are available for families where English is not as easily understood.

Older students often refer themselves for emotional and educational support, but they are also referred by parents, teachers, and other staff members who recognize a need.

One of the most remarkable statistics coming out of this period is that the number of students referred to special education programs by their own parents has more than quintupled; in a typical year four or five such referrals are received, but district officials have gotten 26 of them since March. Administrators do not yet fully understand all the reasons for this sharp increase.

A difficult road ahead 

When children are finally reintegrated into fully in-person instruction, Martoni said, there is going to be a long period of adjustment. “Standards may need to be stratified,” with creative approaches such as a blended seventh and eighth grade curriculum, for example, to help everyone get back to grade level. It’s important to be “open to things looking different” at least through the 2021-22 school year.

Trustee Glenn LaPolt imagined that students will be “shell-shocked” when they all return to learning in person, and that even attending school five days a week will at first feel very difficult. The board president promised administrators whatever support is needed to aid in this process.

Tags: coronaviruscovid-19
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Three-story, 24-unit apartment complex proposed for Barclay Heights in Saugerties

Next Post

Spend First Saturdays on the Trail with the Woodstock Land Conservancy

Terence P. Ward

Terence P Ward resides in New Paltz, where he reports on local events, writes books about religious minorities, tends a wild garden and communes with cats.

Related Posts

Saugerties Junior High School announces its second-quarter Honor Roll
Education

Controversy ensues as KCSD walks back Black History Month opt out language

February 4, 2023
Onteora faces “unfathomable” choices as district’s enrollment dwindles
Education

Parents voice concerns over plan to send Onteora sixth graders to middle school in Boiceville

February 2, 2023
Trump’s taking back trans kids’ protections won’t change local approach
Education

Committee works to ensure that every Saugerties student has the opportunity to succeed 

January 31, 2023
News & notes (4/21/21)
Education

Kingston School District weighs priorities as federal COVID funding set to expire later this year

January 30, 2023
“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall
Crime

“The School will be shot up” written on Miller Middle School’s bathroom wall

January 30, 2023
Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings
Education

Wild Earth collaborates with the KCSD to get kids out of the classroom and into their natural surroundings

January 23, 2023
Next Post
Spend First Saturdays on the Trail with the Woodstock Land Conservancy

Spend First Saturdays on the Trail with the Woodstock Land Conservancy

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.6k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 1.9k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.5k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.1k views
  • Three-story, mixed-use building proposed for Agway property in New Paltz 1k views

Weather

Kingston
◉
14°
Partly Cloudy
7:05 am5:14 pm EST
Feels like: 7°F
Wind: 5mph SSW
Humidity: 29%
Pressure: 30.52"Hg
UV index: 2
SunMonTue
48/30°F
46/23°F
43/34°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing