Dear Parents and the School Community,
I write this on the evening of Tuesday, August 25, two days after the opening of classes. From my perspective in the school campus, I watched our teachers and the staff prepare for this opening. Sr. Alexis would return to the convent visibly tired, updating the rest of us of the successes and frustrations they have experienced, the excited feedback of the teachers after the dry run. The students did not ask about the challenges ahead of them in online learning. Instead they were asking if it was all right to have painted nails, what to wear, etc. As the days of the opening drew near, some teachers were so anxious about their inability to remember the instructions on the use of the laptops, etc.
How to reach you, dear parents and students was a major concern. Original plans of a live orientation for parents had to be put aside when ZOOM technicians told us the maximum of attendees was 300. How do we prepare for this at a short notice? Who would be attending? Definitely the details of the orientation would depend on whether the parents attending were those of pre-schoolers and primary graders, or of the older graders and high schoolers. The orientation would be particular to the learners’ mode of learning as the assistance of parents and/ or guardians for the youngest groups would be a “must”. I thought the decision was good. Use the FB for the high school parents’ orientation and You-Tube for the graders. And parents who were unable to attend at a particular time would be able to avail of the recorded orientation. From these orientations would come the next step. The chance of the parents to present their views, questions, and difficulties in a forum or series of fora could be scheduled later. Or as has been the case, both the grade school and high school created two additional e-mail to address specifically academic concerns.
The High School assigned two secretaries to man the calls from parents, especially those of sectioning, as it is against data privacy to give this information in FB. In the old normal you would have been able to see the sections posted in the school boards. The secretaries were optimistic. They should be able to cover two sections per day. But the calls were not limited to info on the sectioning but covered other questions. This explains why many could not reach us. Lines were busy, without letup.
While many of you may have felt frustrated because information you needed were not forthcoming as expected, I know that weeks before the opening, parents have been communicating and teachers have been answering via e-mail or FB. This was no longer possible last week when the teachers’ full attention was on the modules to be delivered and the handling of the computers, cell phones, laptops, and headsets.
I beg your indulgence. From our end, even Sundays and holidays have been working days, especially for Sr. Barbara Martha. Technicians have been working preparing cables, etc. to facilitate the coming in of stronger internet waves. Rewiring had to be done in classrooms, etc. and purchases had to be done immediately to prepare the school for online classes. Then only could our teachers practice their delivery. There may be more inconveniences as the days progress as Converge has not yet attended to our request for stronger internet. We shall be using both PLDT and Converge as Internet service providers and we hope they can sustain a stable connectivity.
All this seemingly surprise and last-minute preparations have a reason. Till now enrolment is going on after we followed up families whose children have not yet enrolled. Even now as classes have started, the additional enrollees have necessitated opening more sections to Grade 1. We have hired one new teacher and still need another one, just as we hired two additional technicians to help our population.
Remember, dear parents, that teachers reported only in June after the March to April lockdown. The teachers had first to finish off their responsibility for the SY 2019-2020 before they could start preparing for online teaching and module-making. Sectioning was not simple. Online learners had to be together in a class and those who opted for modules in another class. Enrolment was likewise slow in coming. By the end of June we had not reached 2000 students. Projected was 3000 plus. Now we can safely say we reached 2500.
You notice that we in administration were working with so many unknown variables. How many were really coming? What mode of instruction was chosen by the parents? When would our school facilities be ready for the challenges of online and modular learning? And this in all grade levels.
I know of a school in the old normal who prepared for online classes for a whole year. The parents were consulted, were given orientation on how to use technology, teachers were trained for the work commencing only the next year. And this was easier to arrange with the face-to-face mode. The students worked on laptops in school provided by the company offering the program. It was only on weekends that they needed their own laptops or cell phones. Now it is the whole country preparing with the limitations of a pandemic.
Yes, this pandemic is educating us, transforming us from inside out. We cannot have things fast. Much less learn fast. We are slowly being educated for resiliency, creativity, and acceptance of a reality that came upon us little by little with the virus not having a lasting cure that would end the pandemic. But we are all holding on beautifully and coping well from March till now the end of August. It is the strangeness and suddenness of a learning package that challenges all, old and young.
When a dear friend died in February this year, I had my first exposure to zoom. The novena of Masses was via zoom. The instructions were given to us via viber and e-mail. But it was not interactive. Only two “pictures” were being shown alternately—the site of the chapel with the urn and the speaker giving the eulogy. (I could not attend the Mass, only the novena prayers and the eulogy on the 9th day). The guests were not shown. That gave me a thought. I was assigned in our Retreat Center in Tagaytay then. I thought: if the students and adults cannot come to the Retreat Center, we can have online retreats and recollections. Then came the funeral of a Sister beloved by all. We were not allowed to go to Manila for the wake. But we were promised the Mass would be livestreamed. I had to take care of my community of Sisters who relied on me to enable them to be present at this Mass. I prepared the night before—desktop and laptop. Two hours. The Sister from Manila could not give me the ID meeting number and Passcode earlier. Only the next morning she said. I would just have to click the link, she said.
It was time for the Mass. I got the chapel scene on my laptop. It was past the time, but no priest. I opened the desktop. The Mass had started. And a few of my Sister huddled in my small office. The rest went out where I had the laptop and a large screen. When it finally caught up with the Mass, there was no sound. My laptop said no sound unless I used Chrome to open my e-mail where I got the link. You can imagine my exasperation, my impatience. What I had meticulously prepared the night before was not enough. I tested the sound of my voice and it worked last night. But I did not have the other party to test the audio.
My dear parents, I could go on and on. When the Sisters used FB for livestreaming convent events, I was more miserable. The Sisters from Manila presumed I was a Friend in FB. I could not get the link. I received no link because I was not a Friend. And the Mass for final vows was going on I knew, but I could not get the Mass in the big desktop so the Sisters could watch. I was being given instructions via Messenger while the Mass was going on, but nothing registered on my screen. I learned through the months by trying and failing.
I ask you, dear parents, to give yourselves and us a month to try, to practice, to fail, and to succeed. At this present time our energies in the school community are focused on helping the teachers and setting the structures for the internet broadband, etc.
My request is this. We are before a big project, that of safely delivering online and modular classes to our children. If there are among you parents who have technical skills, can you mentor others, guiding them how to open, how to close, what to click, etc.
As I mentioned in my first circular: we are living in “challenging times, difficult, yet a fertile time to grow Christian attitudes and virtues. This sacred time of the pandemic provides the time and the space to live out full, human, caring, and compassionate lives.”
We do not know how long this pandemic will last. Let us embrace the challenges of each day and each moment and know that all things work together for good to those who love God. Let us help together make online learning fun, fruitful, and beneficial to us all.
Sincerely,
Sister Lydia Villegas, OSB
