Teacher Appreciation Week celebrated in Carson City

If there ever were a silver lining amid a pandemic, many parents, forced into homeschooling their children via Remote Learning, may have discovered a new found appreciation for teachers. For National Teacher Appreciation Week in Carson City, principals, office managers and administrators alike have also found novel ways to recognize and celebrate educators.

Where schools typically provide a close proximity for teachers to celebrate together, social distancing has proven to be a challenge to recognize the endless hours and emotional attention educators devote continuously for their students.

Administrative staff throughout the Carson City School District, particularly from Fritsch and Seeliger Elementary Schools, have gone to ‘great lengths’ to show appreciation for their teachers. Many have driven several miles and delivered appreciation care packages, signs and other bags and goodies to each individual teacher’s home. ‘Thank You’ signs and other banners were also staked out on lawns or waved as proclamations to recognize all their hard work.

Since the teacher population covers a large geographical area (many teachers live outside of Carson City in areas north, south, east and west including Reno, Sparks, Dayton, Minden, Gardnerville, South Lake Tahoe, etc.), administrative teams racked up the miles to recognize each.

Additionally, online video messages from students, newsletters and drive-thru donut and fruit events have all been planned or have been published for teachers.

In line with National Teacher Appreciation Week, Carson City School District Superintendent Richard Stokes provided encouraging words and appreciation in a districtwide statement to all teachers and staff.

“Dear Friends,

There is no doubt that the 2020 school year will be a memorable time of our lives. For most, the conditions and experiences of the last two months have changed our personal and professional lives dramatically. We have gone from our comfortable and familiar school and personal routines to a world of change, confusion and fear. All around us, the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed has evolved at every turn. These changes have been especially notable in our professional venues and methods. Today our students stay home to attend school. Our instructional practices require interaction with our students from a remote stage. Conditions demand that we modify our techniques in order to maintain our most fundamental objective of teaching, supporting and nurturing our students.

I initially believed that these extraordinary times would be a brief inconvenience and life as we once knew it would return quickly. Now I find myself asking, “is this the new normal?” While many unanswered questions remain, important constants regarding the indomitable quality of the human spirit remain and give me hope. I recognize these importance qualities in each of you, our educators. Your creativity, your tenacity, your patience and your care for others are qualities that exist in great abundance in our teachers, nurses, support staff and administrators. How grateful I am to have you as colleagues. Thank you for your service, for your care and for your encouragement to the students and families of our community.

As we look to the future, I have great confidence we will not only prevail against the virus threat, but we will also thrive. The qualities that have carried us through difficult times in the past will continue to bless our lives as we face the present. I encourage you to continue to provide messages of encouragement and hope to our students and families. Our work is the most important of any other being done today. Thank you for being a positive influence in the lives of your students. With your skill and determination, what could be more appealing than creating a better world and a happier future.

Thanks for all you do. You are truly appreciated!”