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We’re in This Together: Teachers, Students and Love for Our Lunch Ladies
Description
With challenges brought on by the COVID-19 crisis come stories of hope and helping one another in ways that warm the heart.
In this episode of the Supercast, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey finds out how one school is coming up with creative ways to connect with students, support them and make them smile. And, we learn how lunch ladies are managing to keep kids fed with a huge helping of kindness during school dismissal every day.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony "got to maintain social distancing." Once again, we're conducting this Supercast using Google meet. There are a lot of difficult situations folks are dealing with, and everyone is impacted in an individual and different way by the Corona virus and the shutdowns that have happened as a result. But there has been a lot of innovation, creativity, and kindness that has exhibited itself out in our schools. And I wanted to highlight some of the wonderful things that I know are happening in response to this terrible circumstance. And today I get to Google meet principal ABR SP at Columbia elementary school. And I also get to talk with Natalie ticks a lunch clerk at foothills elementary. Start by checking in with ABR, speak to see what's been happening at Columbia during the school dismissal. So Abe, tell us a little bit about yourself. You've been at Columbia for two years now.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's right. This was my second year.
Anthony Godfrey:
And did you teach elementary previous to that?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I taught first grade for 12 years. It was awesome.
Anthony Godfrey:
You are somebody who has a great time at work. You love being at the elementary. Tell me what you love about elementary school.
Speaker 3:
Oh, elementary kids are the best they love being at school. And when you're the principal of an elementary school, you're like a superstar. You walk down the halls and everyone loves and greets you and as excited to see you still. So that's what I love most about being at the elementary.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, that is a wonderful thing about it. And I certainly miss being at a school for that very reason. I know how much you love being there and, and, and how engaged you are. What are some of the things that have been happening at your school to kind of make the most of, of the situation and continue to maintain those connections with kids and, and with the faculty?
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So nine teachers that have been awesome and that's actually our motto as a faculty is it'd be awesome for kids and they have been awesome. They've been doing an incredible job rolling out the online curriculum as well as just connecting with kids in different ways that they normally are used to. We had the big parade with the help of West Jordan police department. We went through the neighborhoods and we sure we kept their social distance and honked. And the kids all came out with their parents on their porches and on their balconies and waved. And it was, it was just an awesome experience. That's one, there's one example of ways that we've been trying to connect.
Anthony Godfrey:
I know you had at least one teacher who went out and visited homes and put some signs in front yards. Tell me about,
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we have two second grade teachers that visited each of their students' homes and we have a lot of apartments. And so they would, they put signs like great job on your online curriculum this week. You did awesome. And also thanks to their parents, like awesome job, getting your kids online. Cause sometimes that's a battle is to get the kids to get online and parents are a huge help in that. So they visited every single home. They didn't knock on the door or anything. They just left the sign on the, on the grass or