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Coronavirus, Covid-19, “The Rona,” etc.

There are many different names, but we will all remember the same pandemic for the rest of our lives. Whether it’s the many extra weeks off from school or work, the extraordinary safety measures or the terrible deaths of many, many Americans and people around the World, the virus and its effects will forever be ingrained in our memories.

On a more focused local scale, one thing I will always remember is how the Nederland ISD Teachers, Support Staff and Administrators responded during the crisis:

Our Child Nutrition Staff has passed out over 35,000 meals and continues daily. This exceptional team prides themselves on taking care of our students, especially those that may not have access to a solid meal day-to-day.

They continue to come in, put together two solid meals for our students, distribute meals while wearing all of their PPE in rain or shine, show up the next day to repeat and all with a proud smile. Awesome job!

Our Custodial Staff and Maintenance Team continues to keep operations going by regularly cleaning and sanitizing our buildings and working to ensure they are safe for essential work. We appreciate you!

Our Technology Staff continues to step up big by distributing devices to those in need. NISD provided our students that needed a device to complete the year with Chromebooks and/or iPads. Kudos to all of you, especially our Tech team getting everything ready for distribution.

Our Teachers and Administrators came together, developed and rolled out a flexible education program to keep our students engaged and learning throughout the remaining school year.

They continue to develop lessons weekly, all the while supporting their own families at home.

Our team stuffs and mails over 1,200 paper packets to students that are unable to do the online learning or do not have Internet access. The online virtual meetings, coordination, frustration and questions to result in the best outcome possible for our students… all unprecedented!

So many times I have seen and read of parents and guardians thanking all of you for your video lessons, feedback and “thinking outside the box” to keep students engaged. Amazing work!

I want to also thank the parents, grandparents and guardians for stepping up, assisting and keeping track of their student’s progress. Your efforts to keep them on track are more than appreciated!

Last but certainly not least, our students. Their lives have been turned upside down.

All of the schedules, rules and familiarity they have known are gone.

They are experiencing something none of us ever had to experience at their age. I am proud to see their resiliency and ability to adapt to online learning, having parents as teachers, and spending more time with siblings than I am sure they would like.

Being a part of hard discussions regarding the pandemic, family financial situations, and so much more. They will be leading our country one day and I, for one, can’t wait to see what they do!

These are unprecedented times with unprecedented responses. I am so thankful and grateful to all of the Nederland ISD staff for rising up to the challenge, committing to excellence, and following Mr. Mallory’s mantra of “Adjust and Overcome.”

When all of this is behind us, I look forward to seeing our District continue to excel, raise the bar, and exceed our motto of “Every Student. Every Day!”

In the spirit of Teacher Appreciation Week and on behalf of the NISD Board of Trustees, simply but sincerely… Thank You!”

Micah Mosley is president of the Nederland ISD Board of Trustees. He can be reached at mmosley@nederlandisd.org.