At a time when politics sometimes obscure the good work people do, Superintendent Anibal Soler "took stock" Monday night of all the things parents students, staff, administrators and school board members accomplished during the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of his regular superintendent's update, Soler ran through a list of positive things that have taken place in the district since the pandemic rolled into Genesee County 15 months ago.
"Sometimes we get lost in the current events, the news articles, this whole thing we can’t really control, people question our integrity, our commitment to kids because we may not be extreme about masks or anything of that nature," Soler said to open his remarks.
In no particular order, he said:
- Though the district didn't have to, schools reopened 10 weeks ago to full, in-class learning five days a week. "We could have taken the easy route," Soler said.
- The school board approved a budget with zero impact to taxpayers in "a very tough year."
- The district fed 150,000 meals to district families.
- The district installed 200 WiFi hotspots so students without internet access can study at home.
- "Parents were subject to constant, evolving guidance from the state and an ever-changing approach to learning from us," Soler said. "We know this hasn't been an easy year. They've stayed committed to us, committed to their kids, and their kids have been resilient. They rarely complain about any of the things we ask them to do." He added, "I want to thank our parents for always encouraging their kids to be resilient but I also want to thank our kids for stepping up and doing everything we asked like social distancing in the cafeteria, sitting at desks the whole time, you've got to walk with your mask on, one person at a time in the bathroom, a variety of things."
- The district provided at-home technology to pre-K students so students didn't need to bring technology back and forth from home to school.
- The district opened a brand-new playground at Jackson School "during a pandemic," he noted.
- Students in Special Education were coming to school campuses five days a week from the start of the pandemic.
- Plans are in place for a prom and graduation.
It hasn't been an easy year but the best barometer for how the district has performed, he said, is what the kids say.
"Most of them say we did a pretty good job with what we had to work with," Soler said.
"This is a very politically divided time," he added. "If we stay grounded on what we do for children we can never go wrong."
At the start of his update, Soler announced that two principals in the district have taken new jobs elsewhere.
Ashley John Grillo will be leaving Batavia Middle School to become principal of the Junior-Senior HS in Byron-Bergen.
Amanda Cook is leaving John Kennedy to become director of curriculum in Pavilion.
Nate Korzelius will become interim principal at BMS. Soler said Korzelius will work on integrating high-school-credit courses into the offerings at BMS and that the change will open more opportunities for those students who participate to start Genesee Community College studies while in high school.
