A message of gratitude

To the Editor;

I want to thank the staff and leadership at Maine schools for their extraordinary efforts and deep commitment to the education of Maine’s children. Because of their courage and hard work, 100 percent of Maine public school administrative units were able to safely open up this fall and because of their diligent attention to the six requirements for health and safety at school, Maine schools are significantly safer than other settings in the greater community. Our public school students and staff members are less than half as likely to be positive with COVID-19 as the general population (with 40 percent the positivity rate that we’re seeing across other sectors of our state). School employees should know that their efforts and contributions are making all the difference for the students and communities they serve.

We’ve been asking more of our schools than we’ve ever had to ask before, and I have one more request. I’m asking school staff members and leadership to be gentle with their expectations and to give themselves the grace that educators and others who keep schools running tend to offer so generously to others. They should acknowledge that this has all been extremely difficult and they should own the fact that, collectively, they’ve been knocking it out of the park in terms of supporting students and in terms of providing their entire communities with steadfast assurance in a time of uncertainty.

You see, local public schools have always been far more than buildings where academic learning occurs. The schools give shape and identity to our communities. The schools hold us together in shared purpose and in a shared promise that we all make to the better future that awaits us.

Thank you to our educators and school leaders for their heroic work throughout this extraordinary time.  

Pender Makin

commissioner 

Maine Department of Education 

Augusta