This week will begin the second week of the worldwide impact of the coronavirus, including so many changes in our little spot in the universe.
Schools in New York state, as well as many other states, are closed until at least mid-April. Last Friday Gov. Andrew Cuomo established that only essential businesses can remain open on a scaled-down basis. All other people have been told to remain home, working if possible remotely.
By last Friday, nothing normal remained in place. One of the largest changes came when public schools had less than two days to figure out how to continue to educate and feed students they will not see for weeks.
Waterville Central School Superintendent Chuck Chafee credited the strength of the WCS staff for pulling together a plan and pulling together. While districts prepare for all sorts of disasters, nothing like this was ever practiced, he said.
“We were fortunate that we had been talking about doing a Chromebook rollout and our teachers have had Google classroom training,’’ Chafee said. “It was chaotic to a degree Wednesday but the kids got to see their teachers and each other a little bit.’’
Waterville Junior-Senior High students went to the school Wednesday to pick up their books and an assigned Chromebook, plus clean out their lockers so the school can be fully disinfected. Work packets for Memorial Park School students were mailed.
The district set up a meal program with distribution…