Class of 2020: Redeem Your Senior Year
On Friday, March 13, 2020, I reported to school for a professional day to end the third grading period. Since it was a teacher workday, my students had the day off.
Just as our faculty was assembling for an afternoon meeting, Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards released a statement that all schools were to close until April 13, 2020.
My principal was stunned.
The afternoon was surreal.
I thought about my classes, wondered about how to end the school year, but I had no answers.
When I was on social media that evening, I began reading the expressions of shock and grief written by some of my seniors.
My desire to help the Class of 2020 nationwide and their families process grief over the profound loss of the senior year prompted me to contact a friend who had also lost his senior year, 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, Chris Dier, to ask if he would write an open letter that I might offer the public as a guest post on my blog.
The resulting post, “Louisiana Teacher of the Year: An Open Letter to High School Seniors During Coronavirus Crisis,” has had over 1.7 million views since its publication six days ago. Numerous readers– students, parents, grandparents, teachers, and others– have offered their stories in the comments CONTINUE READING: Class of 2020: Redeem Your Senior Year | deutsch29