I recently heard someone say \u201cNever do planning during a crisis.\u201d Granted, everyone needs some time to react to the immediacy of a crisis, determine if we fight or flee, and try to understand what is taking place. But then we have to start adapting, especially when we realize the crisis is here to stay for longer than we thought or want and may not get better for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
After almost three months into the present health crisis, our Catholic schools have made incredible adaptations to sustain their mission and continue providing quality education for their students. Everything is moving at what seems light speed and we are learning a lot of lessons through it all \u2013 how to organize a totally remote learning system in a matter of days (perhaps hours!), pondering and researching\u00a0 options for reopening schools that will be very different in a few months, adjusting for potential changes to enrollment and funding, and constantly asking ourselves, \u201cWhat\u2019s next!\u201d\u00a0 We are learning to pivot, flatten our curves, look for a \u201cnew normal,\u201d and swivel to something new, while keeping some of the familiar in our schools and lives.<\/p>\n
In pivoting or swiveling from adaptations to the adoption of enhanced or very different ways of sustaining quality Catholic education in our schools, we need to be planning and talking about a new vision for a different world in our Catholic schools.\u00a0 It is time to reflect on what we did best in our schools and classrooms before the pandemic, what worked well, what may have been so-so, and of course, honestly admitting to \u201clet\u2019s not do that anymore!\u201d\u00a0 In considering what folks are calling a \u201cnew normal\u201d we need to see if our best practices still have merit and vitality, what we can retool, adjust and enhance to make it better in a new fashion, and make our schools even better, stronger, and far more sustainable.<\/p>\n