Special Series: 3) Teachers & Parents Share

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Our spe­cial Cham­pi­on series brings teach­ers and par­ents to the fore­front this month.

May­or Jess Alum­baugh expressed, ​“The past two months have brought a host of new chal­lenges that has made teach­ing and learn­ing dif­fi­cult. Teach­ers have worked tire­less­ly to cre­ate new and excit­ing ways to meet their stu­dents’ needs at the same time deal­ing with the per­son­al changes hap­pen­ing in their own homes. Par­ents have also faced the chal­lenges of keep­ing their chil­dren engaged in their school­work in an envi­ron­ment of dis­trac­tions. Though the rou­tines and chal­lenges have been dra­mat­i­cal­ly altered, both teach­ers and par­ents deserve a stand­ing ova­tion for their hard work and ded­i­ca­tion to our children.”

A mom said she is for­tu­nate that her son, a junior dur­ing the spring, adapt­ed well to e‑learning large­ly due to great sup­port from the top down. ​“Teach­ers were very acces­si­ble if he had ques­tions. Teach­ers and even coach­es would even check in on him periodically.”

A mom of two ele­men­tary school stu­dents said her fam­i­ly was also well-sup­port­ed by the school. ​“The teach­ers even dropped mate­ri­als off at our doorstep.”

A dad of a 2^nd grad­er was rear­rang­ing his busi­ness oper­a­tion by mak­ing masks while ensur­ing his daugh­ter con­tin­ued a good edu­ca­tion from home. ​“We most­ly enjoyed the online ​‘hang­outs.’ We got to see the teacher and oth­er class­mates once a week.”

One high school teacher said it was the most chal­leng­ing thing she has ever faced as an edu­ca­tor. ​“I could not be hands-on, stu­dents did not always have Inter­net or device access, plus emo­tions from cer­tain stu­dents brought on some lack of moti­va­tion. A good thing from the expe­ri­ence was learn­ing how to use resources and per­son­al­ize cur­ricu­lum using the tools the stu­dents had available.”

Mar­i­on Com­mu­ni­ty Schools Supt. Dr. Brad Lind­say thanked all his staff, fam­i­lies, and com­mu­ni­ty. ​“We are so grate­ful for the sup­port, coop­er­a­tion, and col­lab­o­ra­tion always, but espe­cial­ly in the past sev­er­al weeks as we worked togeth­er to find a way for­ward dur­ing the pan­dem­ic. We are so proud of our edu­ca­tors and staff who shift­ed their work quick­ly to address new chal­lenges. The excel­lent work put in by our teach­ers and admin­is­tra­tors, tech­nol­o­gy and facil­i­ties staff, food ser­vice work­ers, and all oth­er staff has been sim­ply astound­ing. We have dis­trib­uted near­ly half a mil­lion meals. We grad­u­at­ed more than 300 seniors. We main­tained con­nec­tions and grew stronger rela­tion­ships with our thou­sands of stu­dents and families…all while con­tin­u­ing to pro­vide learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties while our build­ings were closed! Our staffers are cham­pi­ons. Our stu­dents are cham­pi­ons. Our fam­i­lies are cham­pi­ons. We appre­ci­ate the City of Mar­i­on for rec­og­niz­ing them as such! To all return­ing Giants and to all of our new Giants, we can’t wait to engage and con­nect with you in our upcom­ing Giant Jump­start remote learn­ing in July, and either on cam­pus or through our Giant Online Acad­e­my when the school year starts Aug. 5. Thank you for being cham­pi­ons, and for being Giant by choice!”

The City of Mar­i­on con­grat­u­lates all par­ents and teach­ers of all school sys­tems for your brav­ery and per­se­ver­ance. We rec­og­nize your sac­ri­fices and thank you for con­tin­u­ing to do your best amid this evolv­ing adversity.