I started teaching in the late 1980’s. In the more than 30 years since that first year at Toowoomba State High School, I cannot remember a more rapidly evolving set of circumstances that schools have has to face than the threat posed by Coronavirus.
Information from Queensland Health, Australian Government Department of Health, ISQ, AHISA, and LEQ is coming at schools on a daily basis and it is easy to feel consumed by the sheer volume. We then head home for the day and switch on the news to see more updates from around the globe. Watching adults fight over rolls of toilet paper in Australian supermarket aisles just adds weight to the craziness of the situation. How surreal?
I heard a psychologist on the radio describe the ‘great toilet paper stampede of 2020’ as being symptomatic of people from affluent societies needing to regain control when the situation has us feeling powerless. We have the disposable income and will use it to buy whatever we feel we will need! Or not need!
As each Lutheran school undertakes the important work of preparing for whatever the next few weeks and months may hold in terms of Coronavirus, remember to take the time regularly to reassure the staff, families and students that planning is in place, the health of all in the community will always come first, and continuity of learning is a close second in terms of priority. We all need reassurance from our various community leaders in times of uncertainty.
Stay healthy!
Dennis
