Name Carolyn Gassmann

EPPSP Group 39
Butler University

The Experiential Program for Preparing School Principals

STANDARD:
44: Use public information and data to identify a change or trend in the community that
directly impacts the local school. Collaborate with families and community members in
determining the impact this might have on the school and a plan of action as needed. This plan
should include ways to impact community relations and to work with the media. (ELCC 6.3)

Summary:

While Covid-19 has been intertwining itself into educational planning, teaching, and
restructuring since March 2020, a spike in cases in the late fall has caused districts to make a
dramatic shift in their instructional formats and plans to round out the semester.

As schools prepared to return to school over the summer, the Marion County Health
Department released guidelines as to when it is safe for students to be in school based on the
Covid-19 positive test rate. According to this guidance, when case positivity reached 11%, high
schools should close. At 13% all students, K-12, should return to virtual learning. By mid-
November, cases began to increase at a rapid rate. The state started returning to some tighter
restrictions. Mayor Joe Hogsett of Indianapolis made the executive decision that all schools in
the county K-12 must return to fully virtual learning on or before November 30, 2020.

This executive order was released on November 12. My school district announced that we
would begin our virtual instruction on Monday, November 23. This gives teachers and staff
about a week to prepare themselves and their students for this transition. While there is a lot of
work to be done and the change will certainly cause challenges for everyone, it is certainly not
impossible.

Even though I am currently in a teacher role, I am confident that I can use the skills I have
learned in EPPSP about being a strong leader to gracefully transition my class to this new
learning format. I will use the Reflection section to detail what I am currently doing to prepare
my class, and how those things relate to what I have learned in EPPSP through my leadership
lens.

Reflection:

Three key factors of leadership that I have learned in EPPSP thus far are planning with the end
in mind, maintaining open communication, and keeping student success at the forefront of
planning.
When we first received word of the switch to virtual learning it did not necessarily come as a
surprise. With the change in the virus data trends, it felt inevitable. Hearing of the change just
served as confirmation that it was “go time” to prepare for virtual learning. The day the
adjustment was announced, I sat down to think about what students would need to be
successful. I reflected on eLearning from the spring and what went well and what should be
adapted. From that reflection I began to create a list of skills that I would need to teach students
in the coming week to ensure they felt confident in technology; a list of materials students would
need to work at home; and a list of things that I would need to alter about my teaching to ensure
that students would still be able to learn and grow even at a distance. Once these lists were
created, I began collaborating with my team teachers to ensure that we were all on the same
page about what needed to be done to ensure the success of, not just my students, but of as
many classes of students as possible.

In addition to preparing the students for the transition, I immediately began to work on preparing
the families for the transition. After the district released their initial communication, I wrote a
message to parents to attempt to calm a bit of initial worry and let them know that I will stop at
nothing to support their children. In thinking about my experience with eLearning in the spring,
one of the things I felt went well was my parent communication. I spoke with parents nearly
every day by phone, messages, or home visit. Families were experiencing a tumultuous time,
and I felt very strongly about not letting their students’ education be yet another source of stress
and uncertainty. Because of this, I attempted to do all that I could to support the students and
their whole families through this period of time. Going into another phase of eLearning, I am
eager to take what I did in terms of family communication and collaboration and continue it and
adapt it for this new group of families and their needs. Regardless of what happens in this time,
I am determined to be a source of calm and support for every child and family that I serve.

Finally, and potentially most importantly, going into this period of eLearning I am ready to keep
student success at the forefront of my planning and instruction. Even during the most normal of
times, success looks different for every student. This is true to an even higher level now.
Teaching in the setting I do, I see a great variety in economic status, family involvement, and
student readiness. Working in-person with students I am more easily able to address these
needs and ensure that every student experiences personal growth and success. However, in
eLearning this is such a greater challenge. For some students success will look like engaging
full time in the academic content. For others it will be logging in to Zoom even once a week.
Regardless of where the student is at, it is my job to support each of them in feeling
comfortable, calm, and successful.

While eLearning brings new and different challenges for teachers and students, I am eager to
use the skills that I have attained in leadership to guide my students and their families to and
through this experience. When student success is prioritized, everything else falls into place.
Students can and will be successful in eLearning, and I believe that they, and I, will grow in new
ways as we face this challenge head on.
Artifacts: