A check of the calendar and a quick count reveals that it has been 265 days since the doors at Hamilton Middle closed to the masses on March 13 due to the pandemic. Across those 265 days, we have learned that this pandemic has had tragic consequences for families near and far. We have also learned to be cautious when it comes to the rate of infection, because what goes down always seems to go back up.
The above said, there is reason to be hopeful. While the news feed is still filled with cautionary tales of the pandemic, there seem to be more and more articles in the feed that serve to give us hope that the doors to Hamilton Middle will in time once again be reopening to all our students. It looks like a vaccine will be in use soon, distributed on a timetable that has educators being able to receive the vaccination starting within the next couple of months. To me, it all gives me hope that before too long I will once again be reminding students to walk in the hallways, leave the snow on the ground, and to use indoor voices. Funny how a principal can really miss those things!
While I have no information regarding a specific timeline for returning to school, I do want you to know that at Hamilton we are preparing for this eventuality. We currently have many staff members working together on an aptly named "Planning for Safety" committee that is considering what schooling will look like when we return. As a committee we are working to develop protocols around how we will operate when we are back to work in our building with students. Our growing list of items to cover currently numbers 55 and includes big things like ensuring student safety as they arrive en masse to the building in the morning, keeping hallway transitions safe, how and where to serve and eat lunch with appropriate distancing, and of course expected healthy protocols for mask wearing. We are also considering smaller items like how many staff members can be in our workroom at a time and for how long, and the strategic placement of microwaves to avoid having lots of staff members in the lounge all at once at lunch time. It is a work in progress, but I do believe that at our current rate we will have answers in place for our 55-plus items within several weeks.
In the meantime, winter break is just over two weeks away. Although the days are becoming shorter, colder, and darker, I hope that you are finding hope in what seems to be a growing light at the end of this pandemic tunnel!
