Prepare to Pivot

Take your left foot and plant it on the ground. Then you can move your right foot around to see the opponent coming from any direction. This week's opponent is the face mask. 

Next week will mark yet another phase in how we manage COVID in schools. We have been waiting for the time to come when masks would no longer be needed in schools. And now that the time has arrived...we are not sure we are ready. Are we ready? 

Well, it seems like it would be an easy answer, and that answer would be yes! That is true for the most part, however, the reality of it is that the answer of yes is not universal or simple. No matter what the experts say or the data tells us, the reality is that in schools today, there are still many students who are unvaccinated or who are not eligible to be vaccinated. In addition, the cases of COVID are still happening in our communities. So, the choice to wear a mask or not is now the next issue we need to address. 

At this point, our job is to create an environment in which tolerance and acceptance is on the forefront. We need to model what we want to be happening in our classrooms and schools. After all, each of us will have a different level of comfort and have to make our own choice of whether or not to wear masks. Then there are the students' choices. So, not only do we need to embrace our own values on this, but we need to accept our colleagues' and students/families' choices. 

Every time we pivot, we will be faced with either a masked face or an unmasked face and we will need to simply smile and be ok with it. It doesn't matter if we wear a mask or not. It doesn't matter if you wear a mask or not. As long as I feel comfortable and safe, so should you. Let's make this next phase a smooth one for all. Do our part and be professionals.