How We’re Coping in Ballston Spa, New York
Woman Around Town has writers and readers all over the U.S. We’ve asked them to check in on how they are coping now. Stacey Walz, a frequent contributor to the site, is a teacher in Ballston Spa, New York.
On Saturday, March 14th, I was shopping with my 15 year old daughter, Maggie, when we got an urgent text from my husband to check our emails. Maggie and I were stunned…our district was closing until April 20th. That would be a five week closing. I teach Kindergarten at a title 1 school in our district. The first thing I thought was, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to my students.
I had to work on Monday and Tuesday March 16-17th. We had a grade level meeting, all sitting on tiny kindergarten chairs, while practicing social distancing as my principal relayed the information he knew of our closing. We had to put things away in our classrooms so our rooms could be deep cleaned. I grabbed all my teaching materials. We were told to bring what we could home. Teachers gathered in classrooms and in hallways, social distancing, as we worried about our students and what this virus meant to our school year. The future, as we all know, is unknown with this virus. Would our students who rely on their school breakfasts and lunches be OK? Who would be with our students, if their parents had to work? How were we going to continue teaching our students? We left that day, with very few answers and fear of the unknown.
I have a son, Riley, who is a senior this year in high school. The kids who are in the Class of 2020 are very sad about missing the last parts of their high school years. Riley is an all year distance runner, and was looking forward to his last season of outdoor track, and beating a 4:45 mile. He also has a girlfriend, he hasn’t been able to see, and is hoping they can still attend the prom, which is scheduled for June 15th. And of course, his graduation, scheduled for June 25th, is still in question, but hopeful. My husband’s family, who live on the west coast, are scheduled to attend Riley’s graduation. This graduation was also being seen as a family reunion. He continues to learn on-line, and is hoping for the best to finish his senior year in the halls of his high school.
My daughter Maggie is in 10th grade, and is constantly working on her classwork all day and all night. In between, she is facetiming her friends, asking them questions about her work. Maggie is very diligent and a perfectionist. This transition from having a live teacher in a classroom, to an online platform and emailing her teachers, has been very difficult for her. She is also the stage manager in the high school’s production of “Bye Bye Birdie” which was supposed to debut the weekend after our closure. She is part of the student government, which had planned for a spring dance. She is missing her best friend’s sweet 16th birthday celebration, where she was going to Boston to attend a concert of one of her favorite bands. This is probably the saddest thing she’s missing.
My husband started working from home our 2nd week into our school’s closing, and only going into work, every 4th day. As we all are working from home, we are all working on laptops, with completing work or on conference calls.
As for me, it has been hard navigating uncharted territory teaching remotely as an elementary teacher. My high school kids are receiving new instruction, but with elementary students, we are not instructing anything new. So packets were mailed home, I use email, the phone and Twitter to communicate with my students, until I hear what technologies are approved going forward. I have been making sure my students are getting fed, making sure they are safe, and posting videos of myself teaching and saying hi so they can see me. This week, our school’s staff drove through our neighborhoods, and the kids and their families gathered on driveways to say hi to us. It was emotional and heartwarming, and it proves that a school is more than the four walls it lies in. So much love outpoured in the streets of Ballston Spa, NY that afternoon.
We are going on week 4 of our quarantined life of a family of 4, with two dogs. We are in a little rhythm in the daytime. The kids have set up their school in our room above our garage. My husband has taken over the parlor, and I’m working in the dining room. We meet and talk at lunch, and then we resume with our work. When I get a chance, I listen to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily news conferences. His leadership and personal stories put some comfort into all this. I love listening to his stories, including how this has impacted his family, his fierce love of protecting his mother, and more recently, his admiration for his brother, Chris. The more recent conferences have been heart wrenching with the statistics. God bless him. God bless all of our essential workers right now. God bless families who are dealing with this illness.
Our dogs are very lucky; whenever someone needs a break, they take the dogs with them for a walk. By the end of the night, the dogs are exhausted, often going on 3 or 4 long walks a day. After we eat dinner, we clean up and we play board games every night. Our latest obsession is Clue, so we ordered Super Clue, and have been playing that. I am trying to be mindful of all this. Life will never be this still and quiet. My teenagers will never spend this time home with us.
I have been reading, taking lots of walks, and talking to my parents everyday and spending way too much time on my phone…but what I’ve learned during this time is that it’s sometimes good to take a timeout, and just breathe. Life can be so busy, and we are learning how fragile life can be with this virus, and it makes you question just what is really important in life. Life is much slower, you reflect more, and I just try everyday to be grateful that we are healthy, we are all still loving one another, and that we are all together. After being quarantined, I wonder just how much of what we have learned about this time, will transfer to “real life?”
I pray everyday for those who are infected and their recovery, and I worry about friends who have lost their jobs, or have small businesses. But what I do know is our country is strong and people are good. When people are in need, I know people will rise up. I know my family will.
Photos courtesy of Stacey Walz