I am truly excited to be an educator during this crisis. Whilst many complain and grapple with the changes, thankfully I am able to embrace, appreciate, and wallow in the dynamism of technology and the familiarity of the traditional.

However, I am left with the impression that this is not the mood or experience of several of my colleagues. Fortunately, or unfortunately, on Tuesday, June 3, 2020, as I sat in a meeting of over 200 primary level educational stakeholders (principals, board chairs, Ministry of Education officials) to discuss the way forward for the upcoming academic year 2020-2021, I felt as if I was attending a virtual soirée. Consecutive speakers waxed poetic of their achievements since the closure of schools, and all the measures that they have implemented and the rave reviews from their parents, communities, and boards of management. Me done wid dat! That’s all water under the bridge. Let’s move on!

The conversations needed to have been steered in another direction altogether.

The time was opportune for a comprehensive discussion on strategies, ideas, and suggestions for the preparations for the reopening of schools. Our collective minds should have been engaged with classroom spaces, core subjects, aesthetics, exam preparations, academic calendars, budgets/finances, and much more, considering that the meeting lasted for more than three hours. I had much to contribute and indicated such, but felt that it wasn’t quite my time. Hence, I am using this medium to share visions from my cerebrum and that of my teachers, or more specifically from our frontal lobes (likkle reasoning, likkle planning, likkle judgement).

Without blinking, the reintroduction of the shift system should be carefully examined by all school administrators before it is adopted. There exists a possibility that it can function effectively in a few institutions, especially those with a small populace and adequate infrastructure. But, for the majority of institutions, such as the one that I oversee, with a population of over 1,200 students, 42 classroom teachers, and five specialists, in a very tightly packed physical environment, it is not worth a moment’s consideration. Wait! Wait! Unless the Ministry of Education will provide me with 42 additional teachers… I don’t think so!

As a nation, we have sufficient evidence to support the untenability of returning to this archaic arrangement. The students are cheated, the teaching staff is underutilised, the physical plant is stressed, it is fraught with safety and security concerns, the resources are inadequate to sustain both shifts, and the list could continue. This strategy seemed to be the only fix being purported far and wide, therein my need to share.

After several deliberations with my middle managers, which included measuring our classroom spaces, calculating the distances needed for physical distancing, etc. We are trending towards a two days at school, two days at home, and Fridays as virtual learning days arrangement.

Each classroom teacher will engage half of their class on Mondays and Tuesdays, whilst the other half is engaged at home, and then vice versa, for Wednesdays and Thursdays. It is not an ideal arrangement, as teachers will be required to re-teach all their lessons, but it ensures full coverage for all students within our limited physical infrastructure and a degree of COVID-19 safeguarding.

There would be no offering of the aesthetics to the students in grade 4 to grade 6 for at least the first term, as we have much ground to cover in preparation for the Primary Exit Profile assessments for grades 4, 5, and 6. The focus would be on the core subjects, bearing in mind the anticipated deficiencies. The students of grade 1 to grade 3 would continue to benefit from the aesthetics, along with their core subjects, as they have more ‘wiggle room’.

It will be a no-frills academic calendar. We are willing, for the greater good, to sacrifice some staple calendar events — boys’/girls day, literacy/numeracy days, career/movie days, etc — and not to be left out, the ever-present fund-raising events — once the Ministry of Education puts nuff extras in the kitty. We are committed to slashing days from our midterm breaks and other holidays for this period, as we desire to get our students on par as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

The idea pool is by no means exhaustive. The present purpose is to solicit discussions by engaging reasoned and informed dialogue. Perfect, it is not, but it is a foundation that can be built on or tweaked to accommodate one’s unique situation.

There is a quote that resides on my desk by Martin Luther King Jr: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” Are we there yet?

Aretha P Willie is a passionate educator, principal of George Headley Primary School and a justice of the piece. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or arethawillie.ghps@hotmail.com.