Those of us who have ever worked in schools know the start of the school year is an exciting albeit exhausting time. So much to get ready, so much to consider. Many meetings, plans and decisions to make.

If you’re a technology director (like I used to be) you would have spent the summer imaging computers, upgrading hardware, software and network products, maybe installing some brand-new products for the school or district. Plenty gets saved til the summer when teachers, administrators and students are either not in the building or there around specific schedules. Tech directors/CIOs/CTOs and tech support staff roll up their sleeves and Go!

Except this year.

It all changed in March. That’s when most locations everywhere in the world shut down because of COVID-19. Buildings closed. Teaching and learning went online or via packets. Food insecurity had to be addressed. Children who used to receive free or reduced lunch sometimes with breakfast suddenly did not have those meals. Digital equity/the homework gap became glaring when the workarounds for students without devices and the internet – including the school, public libraries, Starbucks,  McDonald’s were all closed. 

Teachers, administrators, tech directors and staff moved to triage learning. Triage learning is the phrase the educators I spoke with used. 

Everyone had to get a handle on priorities.

Here they were clear. First, were students okay?  Students needed food. Students needed digital devices and Internet access. What about students’ social emotional health?

To find out how students were doing, schools and districts needed current family contact information. In many cases, this was taken at the beginning of the school year. But by March, family contact information had changed. School and district staff worked hard to track down current information so they could contact families and students. 

Plans for triage learning were drafted and redrafted. Will new learning happen? For many schools and districts the answer was no, not now. Reinforcement only.

How would learning actually happen? 

What followed was the most widespread use of education technology in history.

For many schools and districts, it was through the LMS. Some schools and districts hadn’t mandated teacher use the LMS. So teachers had to receive professional development quickly, in a matter of days, on what the district LMS could and couldn’t do and how to use it to assign work and check on students.

Many schools and districts purchased video conferencing licenses for the first time and had to provide professional development for teachers to use the new product.

Teachers wanted to engage with their students. It was hard to use tools new to teachers and to students. 

The schedule didn’t help – no one wanted any child in 7 hours of video conferencing meetings. 

Parents were often either working from home or furloughed. This meant when the teacher used video conferencing with students, the adults in the family were near by.

Some students “ghosted.” Teachers couldn’t find them, they didn’t show up for live sessions, they didn’t respond to email or messages. Staff reached out to find them.

And then there were students without any access. Students didn’t have computing devices or the Internet. Some Internet providers stepped up with free access but it had to be set up family-by-family. New York City, which used my book on 1-to-1 Learning years back, decided they would provide devices to every child that needed one. That’s 300,000 students.Philadelphia distributed devices to 175,000 students who had none.

Teachers everywhere stepped up to this tough situation.

Some teachers’ social emotional health suffered as well. They could not use their existing classroom management tools and approaches. Some had their own children at home to support as parents. 

Tech department added parents to their help desk system and provided drop-in hours. They brought devices to students and helped parents with connectivity. 

It was triage all around.

So now it’s time to go “back to school.”

What does this mean?

For many schools, it means remote learning. Keeping up the learning from home but this time moving into new learning, not just reinforcement. Teachers will “meet” their many students for the first time using screens.

For some schools, it’s a hybrid approach. One or two days or weeks in person in classrooms completely changed to adhere to CDC guidelines. Masking wearing. Social distance. Frequent sanitizing.

For some schools, parents will make a choice between the possibilities.

For many teachers, the choices seem impossible. Some teachers near retirement have decided not to return. Sadly some teachers succumbed to COVID-19. Many teachers are afraid to return.

It’s like no other back-to-school ever. 

This unique time is what my book will be about. There will also be practical recommendations for how schools and districts can make remote or hybrid teaching and learning work.