(inspiring music) - [Narrator] "More to the Story" is brought to you by... (upbeat music) - [Presenter] Land of Lakes shopette and gas, located on Route 37 in Theresa, New York, was established in 2016, and focuses on celebrating the region by collaborating with local businesses.

Offering a fully stocked store and deli, Land of Lakes is more than a convenience store.

- [Narrator] The Youth Philanthropy Counsel of the Northern York Community Foundation supports "More to the Story" on WPBS.

- [Girl] Sharing the gift of responsible citizenship with the next generation by giving back to the North Country non-profits.

- [Narrator] More about the Council and Foundation online at NNYCF.org.

(dramatic music) - Hi there, everyone, and welcome to another edition of "More to the Story."

My name is Joleene DesRosiers, a producer and director here at WPBS.

Most of the world, right now, is struggling with COVID fatigue, the state of being worn thin when it comes to following pandemic protocol, taking in the news, and wondering when this will all end.

If this is you, you're not alone.

It's a state many of us find ourselves in.

Despite the fatigue, we are encouraged to forge on and rebuild.

Restructure.

Rethink the way we disseminate information.

Such is the case for our teachers.

Nothing could have prepared the academic world for the education shift that needed to take place, and quickly.

From digital remote learning, to hybrid models, to homeschooling, teachers are emerging in a different light, and all in an effort to sustain an education model that keeps our children learning and engaged.

It's a challenge that has teachers on their toes, as they educate from behind the screen and at the kitchen table.

Tonight, we tell more of the story, pulling back the curtain to reveal how students, teachers, and parents are managing.

For the record, there are thousands of schools, classrooms, teachers, opinions, and educational struggles across the globe.

It's not easy to pin down any one specific issue when it comes to teaching today, but in one corner of the world, there are things that are working, despite the struggle.

(gentle music) - My name is Ken Isgar.

I'm an English teacher and the English Department Chair here at Pulaski High School.

When the shutdown came in March, it really threw us for a loop.

I mean, we had to learn on the spot.

Everything was new.

Everything was online.

All the platforms changed, and so, you know, I think teachers had to become learners again, and everything had to be translated to a new medium.

That was really challenging.

I really think hybrid learning forces good teaching to the forefront.

I mean, everything that you knew you needed to do well before, now you don't have the luxury of being in person, and so now online, you have to think conscientiously about you move students through an objective, how you keep them sustained and engaged, and monitor and measure learning on the spot.

I think most students appreciate being able to be in person when they can, and when they're not, they're just as resilient as us, and everybody's fighting.

Did you know before you actually chose that project that you would be interested in that topic in particular?

Or is it just- - [Student] Actually, I did kind of know, because for a while, people talked about how women don't get paid the same amount that men do, but then also I had a different idea, but just couldn't get any real information from it.

- What was your idea?

Well, I think, through the process of the initial shutdown, we learned a lot more about what not to do than what to do, and so you know, when we had the summer to ramp up, and figure out how we were going to, you know, take our students through the learning process, that, you know, our leaders especially had to think and become mini health experts, and be able to handle a shutdown, and be able the handle what happens when we have positive cases, and so in everybody's cases, the job became a lot more expansive.

- My name is Tom Jennings.

I'm the Superintendent at Pulaski Academy and Central Schools.

The old days of being a superintendent where you may see a crisis every few months are really old.

It's really not true anymore.

We've been in crisis mode for months now.

There's danger in that, and one of the things we talked about, really when this started as a leadership team and the board of education, is that it's very, very important that our decisions are thoughtful, measured, rational, and if that means we take an extra day to make a decision and announce it, well, then so be it, but it was very important to get it right the first time and I think we've been largely successful with that.

(phone ringing) Good afternoon.

This is Pulaski School Superintendent, Tom Jennings.

Students impacted by quarantine orders will switch to remote learning until the end of their quarantine period.

For those students and staff not directly impacted by these quarantine orders, school will remain open and in person.

You know, when I spoke on the first day of school this year, I talked about how it'll probably be the most difficult year of your career in teaching, and the same is going to be true for students.

There's going to be lows that knock the wind out of you and I think highs that take your breath away.

It will be very difficult.

We also talked about how it's likely to last this entire year, that we'll be dealing with this crisis.

So I think the first step is acknowledging that it's going to be difficult.

So they hear that, I think, and what I've seen is our folks take care of each other, right?

So it would be very easy to fall into despair during this time, and instead, you know, I see people lifting each other up.

(bell ringing) (phone ringing) (students chattering) Good afternoon.

This is Pulaski School Superintendent Tom Jennings.

We were notified this afternoon that a member of our Lura Sharp Elementary School community has tested positive for COVID-19.

The district is collaborating with Oswego County Health Department to conduct contact tracing and identify individuals who were in close contact.

We have students that have tested positive and we've had staff that have tested positive for COVID.

Our response is really in conjunction with the health departments, right?

So I contact the health department, talk to them about the circumstances we're in, or sometimes they'll notify me because they'll hear about it first, of a positive case.

When we talk about spread of COVID in schools, I think we've seen lots of press lately and research that has demonstrated that the odds of that are minimal, and I think it's because, Pulaski, for sure, but I would say all school districts, and frankly not just in New York state.

It seems as though schools are safe for kids and for staff and that we're not seeing a spread in the schools and that's because of the protocols.

So I don't have a mask on, but you do, and everyone else in this room does.

We maintain social distancing.

We initiated cleaning steps that are really unprecedented anywhere, and it's just a matter of how we do business now.

So those safeguards, I think, have really made a difference.

- My name is Stephen Todd, and I am the district superintendent of Jefferson-Lewis, Hamilton, Herkimer, Oneida BOCES, and I'm very happy to say that thus far, this far into the school year, we've seen no evidence of community spread within the schools, even though we're seeing considerable evidence of community spread within the communities outside the school's walls.

Now, that doesn't mean that schools haven't been affected.

There have been cases of COVID-19 that have been brought into the schools by individuals, staff members, or the students, and then we have, in partnership with public health, by using vigorous and effective contact tracing procedures, we've been able to isolate and mitigate against the spread.

- So, remote learning certainly has some challenges, and I think we've had victories as a school.

They look different to be sure, but it's important to acknowledge them, and I think those victories have to do with how we connect to one another, and the opportunities we provide, but also to some extent, we've been able to develop and maintain a pretty robust remote learning plan and program for our students.

I'm not going to say it's a silver lining.

I don't think it is.

I think you learn lessons from any crisis, and the lessons we learned are how better to provide online instruction and use those tools more effectively.

I think we also learned the importance of constant communication with families, and that's something that will continue once the pandemic ends, but I think people are suffering.

So, I'm not going to say there's a silver lining, but certainly there have been lessons that we've learned.

- My name is Eric Cleary.

I'm a father of two hybrid learning students.

There may be some advantages to the hybrid model, but our family faces some disadvantages.

Those disadvantages would be my son is autistic, and he's a freshman in Watertown Highschool, but he has special needs.

So he has special courses that he has to take and he misses a lot of the one-on-one time with his teachers that he would get if he was at school.

You know, the time he can take in between the bells to approach his teachers and say, "Hey, I have this question or I have this issue or I have this problem.

Can you help?"

The other issue that I find we have, at least in my experience, and this is a personal thing.

I like my kids to have physical education.

So, it's easy for them to say, "Go out.

This is your 30 minutes for you to have your recess, your rec."

And for them to say, "Yeah, Dad, I did my 10 minutes of jumping jacks," or, "I ran around the room for 5 minutes."

It's not the same.

They don't get the competition with the kids.

They don't get the interaction with the kids.

And again, that's a classroom issue too as well.

It's a socialization issue.

They're not with their fellow students in school.

(upbeat music) - So, the mental health of the staff and students, social emotional wellbeing in general, I think first and foremost, it's about attending to those daily contacts and connections, those relationships that have to be built and maintained every day.

I am a personal believer that, when we are grateful, that that gratitude can help sustain us through the most challenging times.

It may not be the only answer, but I do feel it's an important piece of the puzzle.

- Weekly communication with parents was something that we doubled down on in the spring.

We, you know, did home visits.

I surprised a few seniors at the end of last year, so we really made an effort to know where kids were and make certain that they got where they needed to be by the end of the year, and we're continuing that this year.

You know, I think the importance of being humble and making certain that we listen to all voices, that you have a great team, that you're thoughtful, careful, almost slow about the way you make decisions, enabled us to make the right decisions more often than not.

- I would hope that the community would rally around teachers, and I felt that, but I would hope that the teachers rally around the community.

It's truly a partnership, and it's really coming on everybody to come together and realize that this time calls for mutual sacrifice.

It's hard on everybody, and so my question is what's gonna sustain us as we do that?

- I do think the districts are doing the best they can.

You know, a lot of this comes at them, these teachers, suddenly.

We just had a recent close this last week for two weeks, and the preparedness that the teachers presented, at least for my student children, was excellent.

- Now, Pulaski High School is able to provide Chromebooks for every student, as well as a hot spot for those who live in more remote areas and struggle with internet service.

They also do, as Jennings said, home visits to check on the students.

Whatever it takes, he says, to keep the students engaged.

Now, it's no secret that some parents struggle with keeping their own kids engaged, especially the young ones.

How do they get a 6-year-old to focus on a computer for 3 or more hours a day?

And if a parent has to work, that task is often left to a sibling, another family member, or a sitter, but what if a sitter or family member isn't available?

To overcome these hurdles, hundreds of families in New York state and in Canada are turning to a teaching model that they may have never considered before, homeschooling.

It's a decades old model that, in some circles, gets a bad rap, but, since COVID, homeschooling has taken on a whole new life.

- My name is Shae Roggie, and I am a co-leader to the local home school New York Homeschool Group.

The benefits of homeschooling my children include being able to build a relationship with them.

That's my favorite.

I love that my kiddos are my best friends.

I love the fact that I can help to build their character.

That's something that I'm passionate about, is being able to help them work through conflicts and being able to push them when they don't feel like they can do something and encourage them.

That's the benefit I feel like I get from it.

- Some of the benefits of homeschooling are flexibility.

The big one for us is just being able to cater our children's learning styles and the curriculum to those learning styles.

We don't have to have a plug and play format for every child.

We can individually tailor it to their needs, to their interests, their desires.

Another benefit is just the amount of family time that we get to spend together, and we get to really monitor exactly how they're doing in all their different subjects.

(clock ringing) So, a typical day starts off, around seven o'clock, we have the kids get up.

It's important to me that they learn how to set their own alarm clocks and get themselves out of bed.

So, they get their day going, you know, making your bed, brushing your teeth, getting some breakfast.

Then, about an hour later, they start with some family reading time.

We do our schooling a little different.

We do our actual bookwork in the afternoon when our younger children are asleep, and so that allows the bookwork to go smoother.

(classical music) (upbeat music) - I feel like walking with the wise, you become wise, and being able to be an influence to my children and a voice of truth and be able to speak life into them is a gift that they benefit from, and also having their siblings around them during the day, like all day long, to me is just a benefit for them, and as far as they learn to be compassionate when someone's struggling, or they need to be quieter because someone just can't focus so well, or if my younger kiddos are awake and the big kiddos have to do school at that time, learning to be gracious and to understand that they don't know enough to be quieter.

So it's just being able to learn life skills right here in our home is good for them and it's a blessing for me to provide that.

- So, some of the misconceptions, in my opinion, of homeschooling, I would say mainly that they feel like there's a lack of socialization, is a big one that we hear a lot.

I don't even know where it came from, to be honest with you.

It's maybe a 30-year-old misconception, because nowadays, everybody is so connected, and, of course, you have your family, your friends, your extended family, and a lot of the socialization that our kids get is with older adults, which really helps in their maturity levels, their life experiences.

It helps connect them to a different generation, which I feel is a huge advantage.

This year, we have seen a huge increase of homeschoolers because of the pandemic, and I have gotten a lot of feedback from families that they are very encouraged about what they are seeing and they feel like this could be an option for them moving forward.

So how is homeschooling treating you guys this fall?

- [Lydia] It has been pretty good overall.

It took us about 7 weeks, I think, before we sorta felt like, all right, like that this is what we do now.

- Sure, yeah.

When it comes to the families that I work with, some of their greatest struggles are definitely the expectations that they put on themselves.

They feel like they have to be doing bookwork the whole day.

- [Lydia] There's so many people this year that are homeschooling for the first time, and not because they want to.

- [Tyson] Right.

- [Lydia] And so, they were just like, almost panicking.

We need some changes from that, and I didn't want to totally toss everything out, but I was very thankful for Thanksgiving break because it gave me an opportunity to actually have time to do some of that research and make some changes.

- Yeah, that's great.

We made some big changes, too.

Like, Shae was trying to do school in the morning when the younger kids were awake, and quickly realized that that was not going to work.

- And not every day is perfect.

There's actually some hard days and there's some great days, and a lot of them are just in between, but educating your children is such a special task and special opportunity.

You only get a certain number of years with your children at home, and why not be the one that gets to invest in them fully, and that's something that I'm passionate about, is I feel like... My kids are the most important thing in my life and I want to give everything I can to help them succeed in their future, and that may be educating them at home.

That may be just encouraging their character and encouraging just different parts of their life.

It seems scary, but if you love your children, it's just a different layer of loving them.

(upbeat music) - We have families from Adams Center to South Louis, Boonville area, over to Old Forge, Carthage, a little bit in Watertown, and so in a normal year, we do plan activities at least once a month, and then within that group, connections are formed and there may be smaller co-ops that come out of that.

A co-op being where several families get together and maybe would do an art lesson or they would do music, or they would do something aside from the traditional subjects.

(family chattering) One thing that I'm grateful with this pandemic is that I feel like it has brought families closer together, and I am a huge proponent of families and family structure being as strong as it can.

I feel like it makes a healthier community and a healthier nation, and that is one thing that I love to do is to encourage fathers and men especially to get involved in their kids' lives, in the educational part of it as well, because I feel like there's so many things that books can't teach you, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say, in my opinion, some of the more important things that we learn definitely don't come out of a textbook, and so there are ample opportunities for families to draw closer together and to really give their kids the best education that's possible, because that's really what it's about.

It's about preparing your children for the future and you don't learn important things like character and humility and grit through a book.

That's stuff you learn through real life.

- Depending on the school district you reside in now, one or more of the schools within that district may be entirely remote.

With an increase in positive cases, several hybrid classrooms have been moved to online only, as teachers and other staff are forced into quarantine, even students.

When that quarantine time expires, students are allowed back into school, until it happens again, and then the cycle is repeated again.

Even those who homeschool need to be cautious as they integrate learning and reprieve with other homeschooling families.

The virus doesn't discriminate.

It can stop us on a dime.

There's no question that this has been a most challenging time.

For those learning behind the screen and at the kitchen table, we commend you.

For those teaching behind the screen and at the kitchen table, we applaud you, and we here at WPBS know there is still so much more to this story, and we thank you for helping us tell it.

- [Narrator] "More to the Story" is brought to you by... (upbeat music) - [Presenter] Land of Lakes shopette and gas, located on Route 37 in Theresa, New York, was established in 2016, and focuses on celebrating the region by collaborating with local businesses.

Offering a fully stocked store and deli, Land of Lakes is more than a convenience store.

- [Narrator] The Youth Philanthropy Counsel of the Northern York Community Foundation supports "More to the Story" on WPBS.

- [Girl] Sharing the gift of responsible citizenship with the next generation by giving back to the North Country non-profits.

- [Narrator] More about the Council and Foundation online at NNYCF.org.

(dramatic music) (peaceful music)