Onward

As a career educator, I think of years not so much as calendar years but as academic years. Educators and non-educators, however, are likely to remember 2020-21. 

 

On March 12, 2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a “three-week spring break” to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The order applied to all public, parochial, and private schools in the state. “We have to do this,” DeWine said at the time, “if we are going to slow this down.” 

 

Looking back, of course, is a testament to an eventful year for the school as well as the state. At DeWine’s announcement, Ohio had five confirmed cases of COVID-19. At this writing, Ohio approaches 1,000,000 cases. 

 

As I reflect one year later, however, the sobering scope of the pandemic notwithstanding, I take tremendous pride in the response of US. For starters, we chose not to simply extend spring break; we prepared in earnest to extend our operations in ways we had never anticipated. Mrs. Lisa Ulery, director of Information Technology & Libraries, and her team shared resources and conducted workshops on distance learning. US Board Director Suber Huang, M.D., MBA, (father of Daniel ’12 and David ’07) shared up-to-date information about the virus. Mrs. Ulery, Dr. Huang, and I were “simulcast” at both the Shaker and Hunting Valley campuses, a technology that seemed almost magical that day (before it all too soon became mundane!). One colleague wondered aloud, though, whether we really needed to put so much effort into instruction that was expected to last just a week. 

 

The challenges – and the tolls – of the year have been formidable. Nevertheless, guiding us through these trying times has been our commitment to our mission.  

 

A spring like no other gave way to an unprecedented summer. Working with public health partners and experts from Northeast Ohio’s world-class medical community, US again leaned into the challenge and sought to reopen as fully as possible under the circumstances. 

The school, in the words of one current parent, “approached this very complicated situation with the vision and assumption that boys WOULD be back in school and [our] charge was to figure how to get that done safely.” 

 

Indeed, resourcefulness – figuring things out – is among the qualities we hope to see in our graduates. I hope that they see it in us, too, including in the school’s response to a once-in-a-century pandemic.  

 

It has been a historic year. I have been asked more than once if we are documenting its many challenges and our many adjustments. To be sure, for the University School Archives we have many photographs of plexiglass dividers, social-distance markers, and masked students and teachers. We will have many artifacts to memorialize the moment. Yet if all we had to show for this year was a photo of the Zoom-ready Head of School – waist-up in coat and tie; waist-down in shorts, tube socks, and tennis shoes (and, for the record, we do) – we would not just be falling short, we would be failing.    

 

We have not slowed down; we have doubled down. We have worked tirelessly since March 2020 to not just mark the moment but make the most of it. Our resolve, along with our resourcefulness, has been tested like never before. Gaining comfort and confidence with distance learning was just the start. We have continued to face forward – and progress onward – into 2021. Our Strategic Planning Steering Committee, comprised of 35 dedicated individuals from throughout the US community, has dedicated itself to identifying challenges and opportunities ahead for US. In benchmarking against preeminent schools around the nation, we learned of a number of others halting their own plans in light of the pandemic’s challenges. They were startled that we were forging ahead. I was proud. 

 

Trying times remind us who our friends are. For all its challenges, I believe the global pandemic has galvanized support for US – and the momentum will carry us past vaccinations, herd immunity, and a return to normalcy. This crisis is just one of those we have weathered in our history and one from which we expect to emerge stronger still. Indeed, trying times also remind us of our priorities.