TCS ‘running toward’ the new coronavirus crisis

Trussville City Schools students on April 6 were supposed to wave from Woodward Road and Wimberly Drive, to shout from their side-walks in Stockton. But the COVID-19 pandemic took that, too.

Superintendent Pattie Neill on April 3 was excited about this Classroom to Cloud Kick-off Caravan, an hourlong parade of school resource officers, school buses, and faculty and staff to signal the start of online learning for the rest of this school year.

“We miss everybody,” Neill said. “We miss seeing everybody. We’re in self-isolation. Just to see someone from six feet apart is refreshing.”

Trussville City Schools staff members are still waiting to see everybody. By April 4, with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s announcement of a statewide stay-at-home order, the caravan had been canceled. The Classroom to Cloud digital platform began at 9:30 a.m. April 6, a seven-week educational online format that all students will complete from their homes.

The transition focused on technology, curriculum and food service. During the first week of April, Neill saw Chromebooks being picked up on one side of Hewitt-Trussville Middle School and 517 grab-and-go meals be delivered from the other side. She directed traffic on Trussville-Clay Road.

“What I’ve seen is an all-call in a new war effort in this COVID-19 pandemic,” Neill said. “It is an all-call and a war effort against an invisible enemy. It’s a mad dash. You know, most people say, ‘Well, is this a sprint or a marathon?’ Well, it’s both. You’re sprinting through a marathon.”

Trussville schools, Neill said, have donated supplies and protective equipment, including hand sanitizer, to healthcare workers in Alabama to fight the coronavirus. Neill has seen teachers adjust quickly to the online teaching format. She has seen cafeteria workers show up to get meals made. Principals are logging into 2 p.m. Zoom meetings by 1:45 p.m.

“We may be in the middle of a global pandemic, but in Trussville we are in the middle of an epidemic of care and compassion for whatever needs to be done,” Neill said. “It’s just an incredible amount of energy to help, and no one is running away from the crisis. Everybody is running toward the crisis, and that is meeting the greater need.”

Hewitt-Trussville High School history teacher Josh Haynes said that the spring semester has been a tough time for all involved.

“The coronavirus pandemic is a new game,” Haynes said. “I like prepping and having a plan in place. It is tough to not be in control of what comes next. I think our students are looking to us for guidance, leadership and for some sort of comfort. They are watching us and how we react to this crisis, and I know that I have tried to spread as much positivity as I can with the limited amount of interaction that I’ve had with them.”

Haynes has spent much of this time designing lessons in Google Docs, and creating videos that review content and skills. He sends out assignments and gives students feedback through Google Classroom, which is a fairly seamless process. Not seeing his students since mid-March has been difficult.

“I’d say that the abrupt ending of the school year, along with not being able to give a proper goodbye, is one of the worst parts of the quarantine,” Haynes said. “I haven’t had a great amount of interaction with my students, but I have seen some things that are good. I can tell that the students are not succumbing to fear during this time. They are still enjoying being young and spending time with their families. I think many families have lost that interaction and bonding time as of late. Maybe that will be the greatest outcome of this quarantine.”

Hewitt-Trussville High School psychology teacher Jill Greene sees the situation through the same lenses as Haynes. She connects well with students by the looks on their faces, and she can tell when they are stressed, having a bad day or don’t understand what she’s saying.

“That relational component will be hard to replicate online,” Greene said.

Greene said that she quickly knew she wanted to be a part of this historical event in a way other than watching it unfold on the evening news. She signed up to serve at Church of the Highlands, and she wore scrubs and layers of protective gear while handing out paperwork through 1-inch car window openings.

“It was a surreal environment,” she said. “I honestly felt like I was in a movie at times.”

Greene said “things were bittersweet” when she started receiving emails and messages from her students thanking her for this school year and being a great teacher.

“I told them that it’s not over yet,” she said. “We’ve still got several weeks together. It will just be a different ‘together.’”

Neill said that whenever schools reopen, they will be thoroughly disinfected, which is already happening each time an employee walks into a school building. Students moving from one school to another will go through a delayed orientation. Whenever normalcy returns, the schools will be overflowing with joy, Neill said.

“I would imagine the first day back with the students would be like a long, lost reunion,” she said. “Everybody would just be so happy.”