“They have lost out on so many milestones that the rest of us hold so dearly in our memories. Many are asking if the work is even worth it. I’ve said, ‘Yes, it’s worth it, and you all are going to graduate!’”

For the past few years, the leadership team at Henderson-Hopkins has been making strides in their school improvement plan. "And then, on March 12th at four o’clock, we found out that we weren’t coming back to school.” What happened next?

In this interview, edited for length and clarity, we heard from Dr. Swinyard how his team is basing their decisions on trauma-informed practices, and placing an emphasis on engaging with community leaders to gauge how to best serve the needs of their students and families.

Dr. Susan Enfield has always had a laser-like focus on advocating for equity throughout her career. With school closures, her commitment to serve her community has only intensified.

Dr. Kelvin Thompson is an expert in online and blended teaching. He shared his advice for school districts during COVID-19: How we should be prioritizing people over procedure, humanizing online education, and putting a big asterisk next to assessment & evaluation.

The Paper team spoke to Dr. Michael Dunn, superintendent of NorthEast Washington Educational Service District (NEWESD) 101, Washington's largest Educational Service District. They provide a wide array of programs, services, and support to over 100k students across northeast Washington.

Dr. David Miyashiro currently serves as Superintendent of the Cajon Valley USD. Read how the transition to distance learning during school closures wasn’t much of a disruption for his community as the programs and curriculum were already second nature to the teachers and students.

Jess Gartner talked to the Paper team about the financial side of educational equity, the need to make the internet a public utility, and how her organization is helping districts plan for revenue changes as a consequence of the crisis.

With a specific focus on Quebec, Canada, the Paper team spoke to resource teacher Hannah Patrick about challenges imposed by school closures on special education, the state of IEPs, and how the role of a resource teacher is changing with distance learning.

Christopher Bugaj is an assistive technology specialist at Loudon County Public Schools. He gave the Paper team a detailed account of the importance of designing with an accessibility lens, teaching our youth about accessible practices, and low-tech learning activities during school closures.

Katherine Nikidis is the principal of Trafalgar School for Girls. She talked about how her students and staff are striking the balance between efficiency and resilience, seizing the opportunity to learn about themselves and their own practices, and giving back to the broader Montreal community.

As we approach the third month of school closures across North America, the Paper team connected with Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner of GSV Advisors and Co-Founder of the ASU GSV Summit. She shared with us her perspectives on COVID-19’s impact on EdTech companies.

Tom Rogers has spent 13 years collecting stories from educators. He is an educator, blogger, podcaster, Youtuber, founder of 2 organizations, as well as a self-proclaimed "casualty of the teaching profession." The Paper team went to him for ground-level insights on the current state of education.