Smiling through our masks

by Cathie Maglio

The school year started the same as it had since March 2020– working from home, supporting teachers from my schools remotely. The teachers sent me their class lists as always and I enrolled the students into the math and English software. Then I emailed back instructions for students to enroll in their classes. Same old online drill.

But that changed suddenly in mid-September. East Boston High School had added a 7th grade and those teachers were not familiar with our software. Everyone being fully vaccinated, I scheduled a visit to the school to meet and train the new teachers, just like before the pandemic. I was excited, and a little nervous. It had been a year and a half since I had set foot in a classroom and talked face to face with live teachers and students.