Dear Editor,
I have always loved how our town celebrates our champions with a fire truck parade down Kings Highway while residents line the sidewalks cheering the team and their championship success. It’s a testament to our community and how we come together to celebrate greatness.
When the coronavirus pandemic begins to subside and society returns to normal later this spring, I would like the borough to hold a fire truck parade to celebrate a special group of champions right now, our teachers, school principals & counselors, and administrators.
They have done an excellent job quickly and successfully bringing the virtual learning platform to life. We are fortunate this happened so fast after the shutdown. I’ve heard from many friends around the country whose districts closed around the same time. Many didn’t get their first virtual instructions until March 30, nearly three weeks after they began the stay-at-home order. I asked what they have been doing to pass the time, and some were utilizing Khan Academy, while others were working on “packets” sent by the district for practice, even though completing the packets didn’t count towards anything. Other friends told us about how their virtual learning lasts only about a half day. And these are highly ranked districts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Colorado.
Meanwhile, our students’ last day was a Friday, and by the following Monday our principals had a plan the teachers began to execute on Tuesday morning. There was our daughter, logged into virtual office hours at 8 a.m. with her teacher. That day, and every day since, her teacher never misses and the work for our students is mostly a full day. Our teachers are doing this from home while also trying to juggle the responsibilities of their own household.
The efforts of our teachers and principals to pull this off requires teamwork, communication, passion, commitment to our students, the desire to succeed, and the will to never give up. In other words, their efforts are the efforts of a championship team.
When the dust settles, let’s line up along Kings Highway as a community and celebrate and congratulate our championship teachers, principals, and counselors with a well-deserved fire truck parade.
Matt Ritter
Haddonfield, N.J.
