An interview with District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill
There have been a lot of firsts for Springfield Public Schools in recent weeks. Such as the first time the school board met via Zoom, the videoconferencing platform. Watchable on YouTube, the video showed all the members appearing from home, the same place we’ve all been told to stay. School board president Mike Zimmers opened the meeting on April 6 by commending the work of Supt. Jennifer Gill.
“We cannot, as a board, thank the superintendent and her staff enough for how they have prepared for this very unusual time that we’re having,” Zimmers said. He also added kudos for teachers and parents having to adjust to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Calling classes off for who knows how long.
Passing out thousands of Chromebooks and iPads to families for learning from home. Offering daily packed lunches and breakfasts for kids in need – sometimes 4,000 meals per day. Sending daily emails to inform parents about the latest developments and arm them with accurate info. Figuring out how to keep facilities maintained. Grappling with an increasingly challenging financial situation. All of these and more have been part of navigating the school system through the unknown. Gill has been in the education field for 27 years. “There has been no pandemic-type event to this magnitude in the course of my career,” she said.
Gill said she started seeing news about the initial spread of the virus weeks before the decision was made to close schools. “You started to get the feeling that you needed to at least pay attention to it as a human, you know, as a mom,” she said. As the new coronavirus made its way to the states, she convened cabinet meetings. Cleaning was ramped up. Plans were made for communication if someone connected to the school got sick, which did end up happening after a person who attended a career fair later found out she was infected.
“It’s just been a surreal experience,” Gill said.
“My calendar was full of activities and student events and everything that we usually have going on, and to have that kind of all stop overnight was a scary thing,” she said.
The goal has been that the learning will not stop. The school district’s “act of God” days expired on March 30. “Remote learning” days technically began the following day, a Tuesday, and that week the devices were distributed. Parents drove to the schools and parked their cars in lines as district employees wearing gloves and face masks brought out sanitized laptops and iPads in zip-close bags while trying to stay six feet or more from each other. Without context, the scenario seems like something out of science fiction.
With the governor’s stay-at-home order extending to at least the end of April, Gill can’t plan the timeline of reopening. She doesn’t know “whether it’s the summer, or next school year, or sometime in May.” State assessments have been waived through the end of the school year. Gill said she worked with teacher and student representatives to decide the best way to deal with grades. Elementary students will remain under the same standards, which are not based on letter grades. Middle and high schoolers cannot earn a lower grade for the final school year semester than they earned in the third quarter, with only room to improve their semester average. Gill said the message to students is that “the biggest thing they can do is participate.” For those who don’t, “We know we’re going to have to be prepared with plans for students who may have learning loss,” she said. Options for summer learning are still unclear.
There is some hope on the horizon for help with the fiscal situation. “Prior to this devastation, we had planned on getting about $10 million this year in sales tax revenues,” she said. “With all the businesses closed, we’re clearly going to take a hit on that.” But the district is hoping for relief in the form of $7.8 million through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. “We have not received that money yet, nor have we been asked to itemize how we will spend it,” she said. But she said the money could be used for summer school programming, technology, online platforms, meals and help for students with learning and mental health needs. “We just need to know a little bit more about the how and the process for obtaining this money and what a timeline might be,” said Gill. “So we’re sort of in wait mode.”
Filling the needs of students from afar has posed new challenges. The district has tried to assess who lacks access to the internet so students’ families can be equipped with hotspots for their electronic devices to connect to. Students who rely on the Individualized Education Program have been connected with their aides via phone. And Gill said the district will be working with teachers to assess which students are engaging. She said potentially, home visits might be done if kids fall through the cracks. “We may have families that are facing crisis at this point in time,” she said. “We need to help them in another way, other than with their learning and just with the basic needs.”
Through the uncertainty, it’s Gill’s job to remain a constant source of accurate information and support. She said she’s drawing from the legacy of mentors and former leaders to guide her – including previous District 186 superintendents Diane Rutledge and Bob Hill. “In a crisis, you can’t fold. You have to stand up and be strong and move forward. And I hope that people have seen that in my leadership,” she said. She acknowledges the collective effort of keeping things afloat. “I have never been so proud of my community,” she said. “I’ve just been pretty awestruck about what our community can do when we come together. And I hope this is a model for how we’ll live together as we move forward.”
You can contact Rachel Otwell at [email protected].
