COVID-19 challenges met by students, teachers
Kristi Niemeyer
Linderman Librarian Roxanne Hovenkotter stands for a photo with students Abby Pobran, Crosby Goode and Aiyanna Haynes.
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The library at Linderman Elementary in Polson is evenly split between rows of desks and shelves lined with books. Students must sanitize their hands to check out books, and desks in the large room are spaced so that kids keep a safe distance from each other.
Three third graders, each wearing a mask, seem to take the changes wrought by the pandemic in stride.
Asked how he felt about all the COVID-19 precautions, Crosby Goode said it wasn’t that different from a typical school year. During last spring’s shutdown, “I missed all my friends,” he adds. “Being here is much better.”
Aiyanna Haynes admits “the only thing I mostly missed was my friends,” but says remote learning was hard for her.
Abby Pobran also didn’t enjoy distance learning and says staring at a computer screen all day hurt her eyes. “I don’t get everything done at home,” she says. “It’s better here, being with kids.”
In addition to managing the school’s book collection, Librarian Roxanne Hovenkotter teaches six classes a day, helping students learn to read and research. This spring, fourth graders were each assigned a state, and tasked with completing a research project and turning it into a slide or PowerPoint presentation.
“At the end they’ll know how to cite a source, do a bibliography and collect data,” says Hovenkotter.
Meanwhile, third graders researched planets and second graders explored butterflies while discovering all the resources available in a library, from periodicals and encyclopedias to the internet and non-fiction books.
For Hovennkotter, the past 12 months presented a lot of stress and a steep learning curve as teachers adjusted to a completely new paradigm. First came the sudden shutdown last March, which lasted to the end of the school year.
“One week we were teaching and the next week we were not,” she recalls.
Teachers rallied, and immediately began preparing packets for their students to facilitate at-home learning. At the same time, the district offered sack lunches on a daily basis for anyone 18 and under, while its IT department assembled computers and checked them out to families so that students could begin to learn online.
Even with computers, many families didn’t have internet access, so the district created wireless hubs. “Some checked out computers and then drove into town and parked in parking lots so they could have a wireless connection,” says Hovennkotter.
To keep spirits up, the school organized “Drive-by Days,” when parents could drive their kids past the school and teachers would stand outside and wave. “There were tears all around,” she says. “I just think that connection a kid makes with their teacher is huge.”
Still, teachers were challenged by the sudden shift to online learning, and parents and kids struggled with turning home into a classroom.
“Parents and teachers were remarkable but, on the other hand, sometimes it didn’t work,” says Hovennkotter. “A lot of kids could fall through the cracks because there were a lot of cracks to fall through.”
In August, teachers began to meet outdoors and strategize the coming school year. The district was opening its doors again, with some students attending in person on Mondays and Tuesdays and a second group convening Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays were devoted to remote learners.
“When we were asked to come back in September, it was just the unknown and that’s what’s so scary,” recalls Hovennkotter. Because her classroom has no windows, she knew ventilation would be a challenge. “I felt like this is a science experiment and I’m not sure I want to be part of a science experiment.”
Around 300 students arrived at Linderman when school resumed in September, divided into groups of 150 each; another 100, or 25 percent, stayed home.
Hovennkotter, like most of her colleagues, suspected the second, third and fourth graders would take off or “fiddle with” their masks, and rebel against social distancing and hand-washing guidelines. She also worried that if students were quarantined they might face a stigma when they returned to school. Much to her relief, none of those concerns materialized.
“Boy was I wrong. Kudos to the kids in this school,” she says. Masks became a means of self-expression, adorned with superheroes, flowers or emblems of their favorite teams. Students quickly learned to keep a distance and sanitize their hands, and kids who have had the virus or been quarantined are welcomed back by their peers.
“If you set expectations for kids they will meet them,” Hovennkotter says. “The students have absolutely risen to the occasion.”
After two months of the hybrid approach, and with no COVID eruptions, the district switched to a four-day week for all students at the end of October. Teachers still have Friday to prepare for the students who have continued at-home learning (at this point, around 30 kids at Linderman).
At the elementary level, that means uploading lessons for the coming week online, and then following up virtually with students, either as a group or individually. Middle and high school students are now able to log in to their classroom online and participate in classes.
While not ideal, the system works. And there are silver linings.
Parents gained a new appreciation of the work teachers do. “It’s been hard on parents who have to go to work, and have a kid at home and have to teach them,” says Hovennkotter. “That was the thing I heard a lot, ‘boy you guys have a tough job!’”
At the same time, many students discovered that they actually like school. “Kids are so tickled to be in school – they want to see their teacher, their friends – they want the social interaction.”
Finally, thanks to the pandemic, technology use in the classroom accelerated and virtual learning is here to stay. Each classroom at Linderman now has a cart equipped with 25 laptops. Students are assigned a computer for the entire year, and if they’re sick or quarantined, they can take the computer home and still keep up on their assignments.
Classrooms are also furnished with new Promethean Boards that allow teachers to share lessons and kids to share their work with the rest of the class.
“It’s just so cool how you can do all this stuff virtually and have kids tied into the board to illustrate something,” says Hovennkotter. “They can see it, they can do it. It’s not just paper and pencil anymore.”
For teachers who struggle with the onslaught of new equipment and know-how, the district’s IT department offers training sessions each Friday. That’s especially helpful for older teachers who weren’t raised with technology and had to ramp up their skills quickly to meet the new challenges of virtual learning.
Last fall and early winter, as cases in Lake County and across the state began to climb upwards, Hovennkotter was sure she’d catch COVID-19. “It was never a matter of if I’m going to get coronavirus, it was always a matter of when,” she says. “But I never did.”
Thanks to Tribal Health’s efforts to prioritize vaccines for teachers in Lake County, she was fully vaccinated by mid-March. “It’s just one step in feeling like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
So far, according to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services website, Linderman has posted a total of 10 positive cases; the high school has tallied 33, the middle school 20, and Cherry Valley, just two.
Hovennkotter, who says “we work in a petri dish,” attributes those low numbers to the administration and school board’s commitment to keeping students and staff healthy during an unprecedented and very trying time.
“It makes me feel like I’m respected, that what I do is acknowledged, and that we want to make sure we keep our teachers and our kids safe.”
