BROCKTON — During the pandemic, as Brockton was hit hard by the coronavirus, Brockton Public Schools spent more than a year in remote learning before returning to city buildings for in-person instruction.
That same year, the roles of teachers, support staff and parents changed dramatically as the district adapted to pandemic-era education, BPS Superintendent Mike Thomas said. He is currently on administrative leave in August 2023, when the district's ongoing financial crisis was announced. .
In an interview with the Enterprise in early April, Thomas said the biggest priority during distance learning was the social and emotional well-being of students.
“We spent a lot of time and money trying to keep our kids safe,” he said.
Now, three school years after BPS began full-scale in-person classes, students and faculty are grappling with a new set of challenges that have recently made national headlines, including hallway violence, chaos, and large budget deficits. is.
But looking back, how did the district get through such an unprecedented year?
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When the pandemic first hit the district in March 2020, Thomas said schools were not set up with webcam software like Zoom or Google Classroom, and many students did not have access to computers or internet connections. said.
Therefore, during the first semester of the pandemic, from March 2020 to June 2020, classes operated asynchronously.
BPS continued to provide breakfast and lunch for students, and families drove by the school to pick up meal and academic packets for students to turn in when they arrived the next day.
Thomas said the district used the stimulus money to buy about 15,000 laptops and more than 4,000 Wi-Fi routers “just to get people online.”
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Schools will become remote in September 2020
When the 2020-2021 school year began in September, classrooms moved online and became synchronous.
Teachers taught in virtual classrooms on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and each student logged in from home. The assignment was submitted through the online learning program Schoolology.
When student attendance began to decline, school coordinating councilors visited homes to check on students and families and see what support was needed.
“We did a pretty good job of what we had to do and work on,” Thomas said.
During that time, my parents became tutors. Many parents sit with their children during online classes and assist them in real time. The school hosted an outdoor workshop to help parents become familiar with the new technology and school environment.
Thomas said the virtual parent-teacher conference was well-attended. For some parents, it was easier to jump in remotely rather than traveling to the school building.
“Parent involvement has been amazing,” Thomas said.
Members of the greater Brockton community brought food and supplies to the school, and many community organizations stepped up to assist students and families.
“The community came together really well,” Thomas said.
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Return to face-to-face classes in 2021
When students returned from February break in 2021, the district moved to a hybrid system, with half of the students in the building and the other half staying home and continuing learning virtually.
However, that hybrid era was short-lived. Brockton fully returned to school buildings in April 2021 amid intense pressure for schools to return to in-person instruction.
“No one was ready to come back. No one knew what it was going to be like,” Thomas said.
Mental health concerns, social media use, and violence began to rapidly increase. These problems existed before the pandemic, Thomas said, but exploded once schools reopened.
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“The year we came back fully in-person was tougher than the year we went virtual. We did everything we could to stop things,” Thomas said.
Using cash from pandemic-era ESSER funds, the district hired more coordinating councilors and strengthened its social-emotional learning department.
Thomas added that many staff, faculty and administrators have taken time off from work or retired due to their own mental health concerns.
Three years later, BPS leaders are still grappling with many of these issues as the district continues to adapt to the post-pandemic academic environment.
As Thomas said, school post-pandemic was “a whole different world.”