Gardner-Dickinson Family
Today marks the anniversary of our school’s shut down due to the COVID19 pandemic. On March 16th 2020, the decision was made to close our school and pivot to remote learning, starting on the 17th. At that time, we thought we would be out for a week or possibly two, but never imagined that we would still be battling this pandemic two years later.
And what a battle it has been on each and every one of us. A battle that has changed our lives both personally, and professionally. It has changed the way we operate as a district, our policies, procedures, instructional methodologies, and overall, the way we educate our students. The pandemic has also affected our students in numerous ways as well; physically, mentally, socially, behaviorally and academically. These are all challenges that we continue to battle each day. So much hardship and so much pain for so very long. We acknowledge the immense hardships COVID has brought us so that we can truly celebrate our accomplishments.
We must celebrate today the fact that we have been two years strong despite this pandemic which has now spanned over the 3rd school year. Unlike most other school districts, we at GD, celebrate 17 months of in-school learning 5 days per week. What an enormous undertaking!
We have become complacent and don’t see this as the massive undertaking it has certainly been, with this year even harder than last. Last year we got by with only 15 COVID cases while this year we are at 105 (50 in the 2 weeks following the holiday break). All of this without losing even a day of in-person learning! This is because of our school community’s strength, determination and continuous dedication to our children at Gardner-Dickinson. You are remarkable, thank you!
GD’s faculty and staff were given a green cupcake today for the celebration of St. Patrick’s day of course, as well as the acknowledgement that exactly one year ago we celebrated in-person learning with the same green cupcake. The only difference is that the flag on the cupcake last year read, “GD Strong” and has since been updated to reflect their incredible perseverance in 2022,
“GD Even Stronger!”
Sending you cupcake thoughts 🙂
Dr. Mary Yodis
Superintendent
Wynantskill UFSD