Sara Sandstrom-Kobi, Peak to Peak. Here we go parents, teachers and kids, the 2020-2021 school will be starting off with Home Learning! Maybe it will last the entire year, or maybe it won’t. 

Gilpin County Schools made the announcement of Remote Learning at the end of July. When Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) made the announcement that they would be going from Phase 3 learning to Phase 1 learning my blood pressure went through the roof. I did my best to not start hyperventilating. In the spring, I tried to be the best mom and teacher for my kids. I tried to be the best teacher for my students. I tried to work the other jobs I have to the best of my ability. I did not feel truly successful with any of it. It was not all a failure, but it certainly was not all ideal. 

My only solace is in the hope that the Home Learning element will be more organized and straightforward for teachers, students and parents. If I have to keep track of eight passwords for two kids on multiple websites again I am going to blow a gasket. BVSD has been working on making the Home Learning process more streamlined and consistent, so I am hopeful. 

I know it has been frustrating waiting to hear and learn about how schools are going to handle life during Covid-19. I implore you to stay enrolled in your local schools and give them time to figure this out. This is a challenge like no other and they are working through it. One question on how to solve a problem turns into six more questions and solutions to figure out before solving the first question. Schools need students to be enrolled to keep funding, to keep their current classes and teachers, and to keep the schools open and flourishing. 

Schools are invaluable to a small community’s success. Schools strengthen local economies. Communities support your schools. Gilpin County Schools and Nederland’s schools are places where each student is known and valued. Kids do not get lost in the crowd in schools this size when the priority of the leadership and the staff is caring about the students. 

My elementary years were in a K-12 school system in a very small town in northeastern South Dakota. One of those idyllic farming towns where the school gym was full for every boys basketball game, and every girls basketball game. The gymnasium was full when there was an elementary or secondary choir/band concert or a school play. It did not matter if your kids were actively participating or not. The community showed up to support the students and the school. The players on the court felt valued with the crowd cheering them on. The band and choir members felt valued as the crowd clapped and cheered them on. The school and the community were inseparable. We were proud to be the Cresbard Comets. It did not matter if you were a first grader, tenth grader or your kids had graduated 13 years ago you were a part of the school community because you were a part of the community. 

The once thriving school in Cresbard had to close its doors in 2005 because of extremely low enrollment. It wasn’t the result of people thinking they could do better somewhere else it was a result of fewer farms and fewer families. The sad reality of the country’s family farms. Losing a school is a tremendous blow to small towns. In the years following both restaurants have closed. The bank closed. The hardware store closed. The laundromat closed and the list goes on and on. 

I bring this up because I want our schools to thrive and with that the communities to thrive. I know what it feels like to see a beloved school, my school, close its doors and then see my childhood town slowly disappear. A part of my identity was lost when the school closed. I can only walk the halls, sit in the lunchroom and play on the playground (which would be completely out of code these days) in my memories. 

The community can do better to support the PK-12 school systems that are in the area. When your middle school neighbor asks you to buy a box of cookie dough to support the theater department, buy a box. When a PTA is hosting a community dinner, go buy dinner. If a movie is being shown as a fundraiser, go see a movie. That money goes directly to support the students.

Support the local businesses that financially support the schools. The reality is that federal and state funding in the United States does not cover a school’s financial needs to provide the programs we expect a school to provide. The community has to help. In turn the community and schools will form a relationship that benefits the entire area and a pride that will permeate through us all. 

(Originally published in the August 13, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)