A Special Note (1/06/2021): Over the course of winter break, I wrote this blog about the challenges of keeping a school open during the pandemic, firmly believing that with some time away from campus to reflect on the year so far — more specifically, on the need to continue supporting each other through the next wave of the pandemic by “holding” one another — it would help me and others feel more connected and hopeful about the new year and new semester. I could have never anticipated that five days after we shared this blog, our community would suffer an indescribable loss with the tragic passing on New Year’s Day of a bright, vivacious Dawson eighth-grade student.
This blog uses tidal waves as a metaphor for the challenges that the pandemic has wrought; this was a different tidal wave to hit our campus and unlike all the processes and protocols we put in place to control some of the effects of the pandemic, there is simply no way to prepare for the loss of a life. Over and over, the sorrow and disbelief continue to slam into each Dawson student, family, faculty, and staff member who knew…