District administrator's corner

by Loren Glasbrenner,  River Valley School District Administrator  Eleanor H. Porter wrote a 1913 novel, Pollyanna, featuring a main character of an orphan who tried to remain unwaveringly optimistic, even when challenged with hardship.  The novel, which later was produced as a film, displayed a heroine that created optimism as an outlook for life.   There have been times in the last two years in which folks have labeled me as “a Pollyanna” due to my focus on what is and what can be.  Yet I know that the River Valley School District is an educational leader in southwestern Wisconsin, that we offer incredible opportunities for kids, and that we have a tremendous staff of professionals leading the charge.  We provide a safe, welcoming atmosphere in which to learn and grow.  Is there always more work to do?  Yes, there is.  And we look forward to moving ahead one step at a time. But, there is a realistic side to the work in education after/during/post pandemic.  Our students are just not the same.  I am not saying that in a bad way, but they are different.  There are students in our classrooms that were stationed at home for learning for up to a year and a half.  Let’s consider the last full “normal” school year for a student was three years ago in 2018-19--before masks, before contact tracing, before a national pandemic.  So, to put that in perspective, the last normal schedule for our high school Seniors was when they were Freshmen.  For any child in Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Grade 1, it is never--these kids have never known school without sanitizer stations, careful distancing, and policies set for masking requirements.  The students have learned new strategies and have been flexible.   Much of the legislation surrounding funding for schools speaks to “learning loss.”  I am not a fan of the terminology.  I do not believe kids can lose something they have never had a chance to learn.  I do believe there was a loss of opportunity.  Students and staff are working hard to assess what needs to be done and prioritizing the most important work.  Again, we could wallow in what should have been done differently, but we plan to move ahead with optimism and work toward what can be done. This last week there was a fall choir concert with performers from grades 6-12 directed by Becky Schinker and Jen Snow.  There was joy, there were kids demonstrating learning through song, and there was an audience of parents, friends, and community members celebrating their success.  The last selection was a song titled “A Patch of Light” by Jacob Naverud.  The message was incredibly appropriate to hear--that students remain as a “patch of light for the aching world…” (I hope you were there, but if you missed it, you can watch it on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFipI3p11pk or find it on the district website at rvschools.org under the Family & Community tab. What we lost over the last two years was the opportunity to spread joy.  Recently, a wise man reminded me, “If you keep your chin up, you don’t notice all the muck you are walking through.”  I know there is muck, but let’s continue to wade through it with a positive attitude.  As we move forward, thank you for your support as we travel this journey together.