The 2022-2023 School Year

 

DUKES FANS:    

“Up in the morning and off to school...”  

Chuck Berry  

It is the week after Labor Day, and for many decades that meant the end of summer vacation and a return to school. Philly public schools opened last week, but all schools are now in session, be they private or public. For some of us as kids this was an exciting time; we were looking forward to seeing friends, working with new teachers, and being a year older than we were the last time we were in school. For others, though, all of those same things could mean fear and terror-being bullied, feeling inadequate as a student, still being too short or whatever. But no matter how well or badly we thought of it, it was always a key turning point in our year and in our lives. It always meant new challenges and opportunities, even if we did not quite see it that way. Our parents were also alternately excited and scared. It meant some return to normalcy, and perhaps sanity for them, but most of our parents worried about how we were doing as well.  

I retired from teaching in 2015, so this is the seventh year of not being in the classroom myself. My study, where I write these newsletters, overlooks Bryan Street, so this first post-Labor Day week is usually filled with the sounds of kids and parents walking and running to get to the Houston Public Elementary School 2 ½ blocks away. They have a great time, chatting, teasing each other and laughing and singing. There are also crossing guards up and saying a bright, “Good morning” to the kids and dramatically ushering them safely across Germantown Ave and/or Allen Lane. Eventually there are the rumbles of the three or four school buses that come down Bryan or Cresheim Road, headed for Houston as well.   
 

There are kids in the neighborhood who go to private schools, so buses to those schools also stop at the corner of Bryan to pick up their students. They added their rumbles to the mix. And the parents of those kids would often be out there talking with each other and then loudly wishing their children good days at school as the buses pulled off. This was what many an early morning sounded like in West Mt. Airy.  

The first four years of my retirement I loved hearing all of those sounds. They were the regular accompaniment to my early mornings, a pleasant little cacophony to start my day. I looked forward to them. This year, though, things have felt and sounded a little differently. The Houston students are still there, but they seem a little more subdued and quieter than usual. They are walking more than running, and their volume seems lower. There is not the same “kid-like” joy that I was used to hearing. There have also been fewer buses on Bryan. Part of that is because some of the private school kids are now old enough and big enough to take the public transportation that is in the area. But even taking that into account, there are fewer buses. It is noticeably quieter in the morning.  

The last two years have been a tough, tough time for all types of institutions, particularly schools. Having to deal with the intense unpredictability of COVID and all of the resulting fear, uncertainty, complications and changes in schedules and procedures has taken so much out of so many people, particularly children and adults on the frontlines. They have all been shocked and traumatized to an extent, even as they work to carry on. And it is tougher. There are shortages of teachers, bus drivers, school nurses, aides, cooks, and custodians. Many workers were tired of the stress, the mistreatment that some of them suffered, and the difficulty of trying to figure out what to do with their families even as they were caring for the children of other families. Many of them left their jobs. And schools are desperately trying to adjust.  

My prayer and hope is that this school year does not have anywhere near the stress and craziness of the last two. That there are ways found to support staff and students as they attempt to re-define what “normal” is and means. The students and workers have both been incredibly brave and resilient through all of this. Here’s hoping that the 2022-2023 school year is one that allows them all the time and help needed for them to begin to recover. I am holding them all in the light. I look forward to hearing those morning sounds again soon.  

(To those of you who are new to the mailing list and curious about previous newsletters, go to our website and click on “John’s Blog” www.dukesofdestiny.com )