BETTENDORF, Iowa — Pleasant Valley fourth graders at Hopewell Elementary are almost headed off to spring break - nearly a year after they never quite returned from the same holiday.
For their teacher, Abby Meuser, this time of year, and the anniversary that now will forever come with it, is surreal.
In honor of one year since the pandemic began, WQAD is highlighting the essential workers that have gotten us through the past several months. The heroes among us, who continued to bravely do their job, despite all of the challenges and dangers of dealing with Covid-19.
As Meuser puts it, it's been a challenge.
"It's something we've never done before. It's a bizarre, bizarre year, for sure," she remarked.
When we visited with Meuser, on a sunny Tuesday with spring in the air, her class was on their third week of full-time, in-person learning, after the state mandated each school offer the option beginning February 15, 2021. Her fourth graders were doing a math problem, which under any other circumstance, would have been normal. But while the chatter in the room was a far cry from the robotic tin of a class conducted on a Zoom call, there were still some glaring remnants of what our world is still coping with.
Students worked in pairs, but were each spaced several feet away from their partner; dots stickered the floor, marking the appropriate distance to be apart when working; masks adorned each small face; and hand sanitizer bottles decorated each corner of the room.
"This year has definitely had its ups and downs," said Meuser. "Being able to provide enough support when they were at home and making sure that every kid was getting what they needed - whether they were in front of me or at home - that was a challenge."
She remembers March of 2020, when she and several other teachers were organizing Hopewell's annual March Madness bracket.
"When we were planning for that this week, we were getting the bracket ready and all those things... it was just really surreal because we were like, 'Oh this is the last thing we did with the kids last year.' So it definitely brought up some feelings," she said. "Even just writing the date on the board - March 13th was that date that was there when I came back in May."
But even with the surrealness surrounding the date, Meuser says now, all she's focused on is trying to push through and look forward to being in-person for the rest of the year.
In fact, her kids hardly ever mention what happened when they had to go home last March.
"One of our units for social studies is the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl and there's a lot of parallels that the kids are drawing on their own from living through a historical moment in life," she commented. "But it's funny, a lot of them are like, 'I don't want to talk about one year because we're still wearing masks. We're still not able to do the things we normally do... so why do we need to talk about it? It's just kind of continued.'"
Looking back on her last year, Meuser says she also doesn't love to reflect on any milestones. But she does remember the biggest challenge as the uncertainty of what teaching would look like.
While Pleasant Valley chose to offer hybrid learning and remote learning throughout the 2020-2021 school year, she says there were still times when the district talked about shutting back down again.
"When the numbers in the community got high in November and December there was discussion around will we need to go 100% online for a few weeks. Luckily we didn't end up needing to make that shift, but the unknown was difficult," she said.
Through it all, Meuser says the collaboration between the district administration, staff, families, and students were a lifesaver, but it was really the support from fellow teachers that powered her through.
"There is no such thing as teaching in isolation. You have to do it together or it's just not going to work," she said.
A few blocks away at Pleasant Valley High School, principal Darren Erickson couldn't have agreed more. And it's that support that he says will be more critical than ever, as we continue to move through the pandemic.
"We're always worried about the physical safety, but the mental and emotional piece has really been hard," said Erickson. "We've always been here for the kids, that's what's been most important. And if we can do so safely, that's what everyone's goal is."
When Erickson thinks of the future, in a post-pandemic world, he joked that he can't wait to be at a faculty meeting and ask if anyone remembers how strange Covid was. But ultimately, he says he craves a world where his staff and students don't have to worry about their health every time they leave their house.
"I don't want them to worry about, 'Is this safe?' I want students to focus on being kids," he said. "But we're not there yet, and we've got to stay vigilant. We're close enough to the finish line where it would be tragic to make a mistake right now."
Meuser also recognizes that the end isn't here quite yet, although the district has been taking steps to bring it that much closer. Pleasant Valley estimates that by March 19, over 90% of their staff will be fully vaccinated.
But even after that, she says she'll get through whatever comes next the same way she got through the last year: by being flexible.
"I've had to expect the unexpected," she said. "It was definitely an unexpected year. One that, we hope- I hope we don't ever repeat, but with the flexibility of teachers, students, families, and everybody involved, we've uh... we've been able to get through it."