By ANNA GILGOFF

Special to The Press

After nearly a month into the new school year, three of the four buildings that comprise the Northwestern Lehigh School District continue to provide in-person education.

And, learning in these pandemic times is moving forward thanks to a shared sense of mission and sheer determination.

All four buildings continue to provide virtual options as well.

Weisenberg Elementary is scheduled to reopen Oct. 5, as of this writing.

“Truthfully, I was scared it was going to be a complete disaster,” Middle School Principal Bill Dovico said. “But, with our extensive planning over the summer, and the ability for our middle school staff to work as a team and overcome any challenge, we had an excellent and successful start to the school year.”

High school Principal Aileen Yadush couldn’t have agreed more.

“Given the number of times the administrative team had to change, revise, adjust and rewrite our plans this summer for the 2020-21 school year, I guess I am surprised we had such a great first week of school,” she said.

The district devised a plan to accommodate both live and remote learning.

This requires teachers to deliver their curriculum to students in their classrooms while filming themselves in real time for students electing virtual learning.

“Our teachers and staff have been wonderful in making the quick transition to becoming true virtual educators while at the same time having in-person students working with them in the classroom,” Yadush said.

“The staff’s tireless dedication to the Northwestern Lehigh community and the middle school students is second-to-none,” agreed Dovico. “It has been one of the main reasons we have successfully started the school year under not so ideal circumstances.”

Resiliency and adaptability have been key in this year of change.

“It has been really interesting and exciting to see how the teachers have adapted their classrooms and lessons to accommodate this new schedule and instructional method,” Yadush said. “I can truly say each teacher has created his or her own unique style and method of making this work for themselves and their students.”

“Our staff knocked it out of the park with offering a hybrid and 100 percent online instructional experience to our Northwestern Lehigh Middle School students,” Dovico said.

Without student cooperation and willingness, school opening would have been compromised.

“Our students have done great,” Dovico said. “They have persevered through a global pandemic, and with every transition and obstacle thrown in their path.

“Our students have stepped up to the challenge to not allow obstacles interfere with their learning and educational experience.

“They have been great following the health and safety procedures we put in place.”

Yadush echoed these sentiments.

“The high school students have been really amazing in acclimating to the new environment at the high school and have been logging in and participating consistently when they are working from home,” she said. “The first week was exhausting for everyone for sure, but in a way that made us feel good about what had happened in each classroom, both in person and virtually.

“Fatigue with results is better than simply being exhausted from spinning your wheels.”

Yadush said there was amazing results in the first week, and this was due to a lot of hard work on everyone’s part, as well as connecting with each other academically and socially each day.

“There were definitely some glitches and some mistakes that had to be corrected, but at the end of the first week, I reflected upon the first four days of school and was so proud of our students and staff for bringing our plans to life and reopening our schools for our kids,” Yadush said.

Everyone continues to adapt to the “new normal.”

“We are learning to identify each other through our masks and, while it has been a learning curve for all of us, it is truly interesting how you can still identify a smile or other emotions behind the mask,” Yadush said.

For a moment, Dovico took a bit of a lighter view of education during a pandemic.

“There’s nothing like operating a school during a global pandemic,” Dovico quipped.

“It has brought on abrupt changes to public education and we continue to make adjustments and pivot with every new guideline that is sent our way.

“The biggest surprise has been the overwhelming support our parents and community have offered during the reopening of school.”

“We are all excited to be back IN school.”