This Too Shall Pass!

So much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for. During this season of Thanksgiving, I am taking time to pause and reflect on where we were a year ago and where we are today.
A year ago, covid-19 rates were surging, and as a results students were in fully online learning, athletics were at a standstill and purple was a color we did not like. Academy Of the Canyons (AOC) was planning to move to Castaic High School. We had started a covid-19 dashboard to track student and staff covid cases, and the “Safer-at-home” public health order had been issued, which prohibited among other things eating inside restaurants, going to playgrounds and reducing capacity inside businesses. In the Hart District we were meeting virtually, visiting zoom classes, and buying PPE (personal protective equipment). We were also planning school reopenings and asking parents if they wanted to continue online learning or blended learning in the next semester. And we were also into our first year after the Saugus High School tragedy. We were recovering then, and we are still recovering.
Good things were happening—we were delivering desks to students in need through the WiSH Education Foundation, we were feeding students daily (setting a record by distributing 39,420 meals on a single day) and we had hired new principals for AOC, Bowman and Valencia High School and had started a Z-Club at Golden Valley High School (if you don’t know what this is, email me). Nationally, we were celebrating making history with the election of the first African-American Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Today, I am giving thanks for covid rates continuing to decline, school being fully reopened for in-person instruction, athletics being in full swing, playgroups and restaurants being open, being able to meet in-person, and AOC being back at COC. I am grateful that I get to visit classes on campus and see students and staff where they are supposed to be. No, things are exactly where we want them to be yet, I know that like things changed from last year to now, that this too shall pass. To the students, staff and community that I am honored to serve, I rejoice in being able to say “thank you” to you and to share my gratitude for your trust and confidence in me. Please email me at any time at cmoore@hartdistrict.org .