School closures are such an interesting and emotionally-charged topic and it's still occurring today. Our oldest finished his elementary days at Arthur Elementary and our youngest is completing his final year at Madison Elementary. CRCSD has a tradition of the senior walk in which seniors return to their elementary schools to take one final pass through the halls in their caps and gowns while the current elementary students cheer them on.
I first learned about this when I was working at Hoover Elementary. Teachers gave me a heads up that students wouldn't be available during on this day at this time because there would be this special event. I thought, "What? This is a tradition? I went to Taylor and then Jefferson--why don't I already know about this?!" Here's why. I was a nomad. I didn't get to embrace this tradition because my home wasn't stable enough to allow me to stay in one area for 14 years. During those years, my parents divorced each other, and then divorced the people that they had remarried. A family member had passed away which necessitated another move from our trailer to the inherited home. I also attended school in Mount Vernon and actually ended up graduating from a high school in Bellevue, NE when I was court-directed to go live with my dad because the home that I shared with my mom was no longer deemed safe because of an abusive step-dad.
Here's the thing. I'm not the exception. I attended Hoover's senior walk that day instead of working with my usual students. There were only a few seniors that attended. Where were all of the seniors? I suspected most had a past like mine and that a very small percentages of students had the luxury of staying in the same area for 14 years. I suspect many of those seniors during their 14 years needed to relocate due to employment, housing availability, divorce, and many more reasons.
Our oldest reflected that when it was his turn to do his senior walk, there would be no students in Arthur to cheer him on. They would all be across the street at Trailside Elementary. I told him that was okay. Kids at Trailside Elementary would hopefully have more collaborative learning spaces, accessibility for students in wheelchairs, and comfort so they could learn with an updated HVAC system that can keep up with climate change and keep them safe from radon. Hopefully, their speech teacher has their own space so it's easy for their students to focus on the lesson instead of feeling claustrophobic in a closet or disrupted by a student having a meltdown at the end of the hall. I reminded him that it is more important to provide teachers and students with the best possible spaces to learn in for the years, maybe even months, that they are with us than holding on to a tradition with a death grip that happens once during your senior year and lasts for about 10 minutes.
School closures are such an interesting and emotionally-charged topic and it's still occurring today. Our oldest finished his elementary days at Arthur Elementary and our youngest is completing his final year at Madison Elementary. CRCSD has a tradition of the senior walk in which seniors return to their elementary schools to take one final pass through the halls in their caps and gowns while the current elementary students cheer them on.
I first learned about this when I was working at Hoover Elementary. Teachers gave me a heads up that students wouldn't be available during on this day at this time because there would be this special event. I thought, "What? This is a tradition? I went to Taylor and then Jefferson--why don't I already know about this?!" Here's why. I was a nomad. I didn't get to embrace this tradition because my home wasn't stable enough to allow me to stay in one area for 14 years. During those years, my parents divorced each other, and then divorced the people that they had remarried. A family member had passed away which necessitated another move from our trailer to the inherited home. I also attended school in Mount Vernon and actually ended up graduating from a high school in Bellevue, NE when I was court-directed to go live with my dad because the home that I shared with my mom was no longer deemed safe because of an abusive step-dad.
Here's the thing. I'm not the exception. I attended Hoover's senior walk that day instead of working with my usual students. There were only a few seniors that attended. Where were all of the seniors? I suspected most had a past like mine and that a very small percentages of students had the luxury of staying in the same area for 14 years. I suspect many of those seniors during their 14 years needed to relocate due to employment, housing availability, divorce, and many more reasons.
Our oldest reflected that when it was his turn to do his senior walk, there would be no students in Arthur to cheer him on. They would all be across the street at Trailside Elementary. I told him that was okay. Kids at Trailside Elementary would hopefully have more collaborative learning spaces, accessibility for students in wheelchairs, and comfort so they could learn with an updated HVAC system that can keep up with climate change and keep them safe from radon. Hopefully, their speech teacher has their own space so it's easy for their students to focus on the lesson instead of feeling claustrophobic in a closet or disrupted by a student having a meltdown at the end of the hall. I reminded him that it is more important to provide teachers and students with the best possible spaces to learn in for the years, maybe even months, that they are with us than holding on to a tradition with a death grip that happens once during your senior year and lasts for about 10 minutes.