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“Not all heroes wear capes.” I’m sure that you’ve heard that saying before.
Well, it’s true, and you don’t have to go to your local hospital, fire, or police station to find them. All you have to do is look as far as your local Catholic school.
Take a look at the teachers, principals, secretaries, aides, administrative assistants, custodians, cooks, and counselors.
In Catholic schools, the heroes are everywhere.This year (2020-2021) our teachers, students, and parents have been tested and challenged like never before.
The coronavirus pandemic that closed schools last March forced schools to imagine new ways to teach students while they stayed home.
Unlike a fire, tornado, or other emergency, the pandemic lockdown was a crisis no one had ever planned or prepared to encounter.
Teachers and principals had to find new tools to teach using the Internet, and they had to learn how to use them almost overnight.
Dedication and love
Driven by their dedication and incredible love and concern for their students, our principals and teachers responded to the shutdown in heroic fashion, going far above and beyond the call of duty.
They often put in 12 to 16 hour days learning the online tools, preparing lesson plans, checking in with individual students via Zoom, and using the phone to check-in with students who didn’t have good Internet service at home.
Since they couldn’t connect with their students at school, they reached out in more ways than ever to connect, reassure, encourage, listen, soothe fears, and teach.
The quick and intensive work of the teachers meant that students at home didn’t miss crucial learning time like children in other schools.
As the school year ended, teachers loosed their creativity, planning drive-in graduations, car caravan celebrations, virtual field trips, and safely distanced outdoor events.
As May melted into June, schools celebrated having finished the year while adapting to new and different ways of teaching and learning.
Still, online learning was no substitute for in-person learning.
It was like comparing color to black and white, or a two-dimensional picture to a three-dimensional image.
It was clear that students and teachers both needed to be back in the classroom.
As miraculous a job as everyone did, learning at home online could not provide the depth of learning, much less the social interaction and lessons in character and virtue that are woven into the daily fabric of the day when children are in the classroom.
Preparing for the year
Despite being exhausted by the stress and constant changes inflicted by the pandemic, principals and teachers didn’t rest over the summer.
Instead, they worked tirelessly, planning new policies, protocols, and lessons so they could safely welcome back students in the fall.
Due to this monumental effort, Catholic schools across the diocese welcomed back students for in-person instruction.
Throughout the pandemic, the response of the teachers, principals, students, and parents, demonstrated the true benefit of Catholic schools and the strength and resilience of our Catholic school communities.
In Catholic schools, it is our faith in Christ that sustains us, connects us, and bonds us to one another through Him.
It is this faith, that students, parents, teachers, and principals have in Christ and in one another that has seen us through and ensured that our students are back in school, in-person, where teachers can educate not only their minds, but also form the virtue of their characters, and strengthen their relationships socially with one another and spiritually with Christ.
It is by faith, grace, and love that the faculty and staff of our Catholic schools were prompted to tireless, heroic action.
While they may not have been fighting the physical effects of the virus, their work to ensure that our students are safe and may continue to grow with one another in body, mind, and soul, is indeed lifesaving, heroic, sacred work.
We and this generation of children will forever owe them a great debt of gratitude.
Thank you to all the heroes in our Catholic school communities, especially those who are not highlighted in these pages.
You have made a difference in the lives of over 5,500 children in Catholic schools in the diocese. You embody Christ and the Catholic school difference!
Michael Lancaster is the superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Madison.