On Friday the 13th, my school had the first of what was supposed to be two flex days. I taught the morning session, but had the afternoon block free. I'd suspected we were heading towards closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, since things had escalated quickly over the week in North Carolina, with colleges sending students home or extending spring breaks. Coincidentally, and fortunately, a teacher who had been using Google Classroom (an online course management system) was able to train me on it that afternoon, and at 2:30 pm the principal came on the announcements to tell everyone that we would start digital learning days (hereafter known as DLDs) next week. It was stated that it would just be for two weeks, then we'd move spring break up a week, and return to school on April 6th. I doubted things would be under control that quickly, but it was easier to face a two week closure than an indefinite one.
Rumors were that the elementary schools would stay open (due to childcare concerns and kids being a low-risk population), so in my mind I was thinking I would just come in to work in my classroom every day, or a couple of times a week. Anyway, teaching my classes online would be challenging, but with the kids at school still it would be totally manageable.
I sadly bid farewell to my empty classroom, wondering when I would ever see it filled with students again.
On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to get in on the pandemic panic buying. We're used to this sort of thing here, because the grocery stores are raided every time there's talk of a hurricane or rumors of snowfall. But the store was surprisingly calm and not super low on anything other than toilet paper. There were plenty of beans and other canned survival foods. Anyway, I didn't really have a plan, so I mainly just bought random things that seemed yummy and shelf-stable or freezable.
The person next to me in the check-out line clearly had a plan though!
