Superintendent Adkins wants everyone to know that November 16-20 is American Education Week and says, “Since I have been superintendent I have always been impressed by our people. I have heard many stories and witnessed example after example of instruction that is second to none and of our people being eager to help students. And now with more challenges and changes, our folks have stepped up and surpassed expectations again.”
American Education Week occurs the week before Thanksgiving and 2020 marks the 99th year. While it started as a means to increase awareness about literacy, it has evolved into a time to celebrate all the people who make up public education and to honor those who are making differences in the lives of students.
In talking about the current situation of education, Adkins says, “We have veteran teachers who are learning about and using more and more technology as tools for instruction - things that weren’t around when these people started teaching. Our teachers have learned so much this year as they implement a new way of teaching and they’re doing this in addition to or maybe I should say in spite of, dealing with the stresses of a global pandemic in their own families and homes.” He continues, “We are beyond grateful for our veteran educators and we’ve been impressed by our newer folks as well. When you become a teacher, you learn a whole lot in the first few years of teaching. Now, we have new teachers who may be more comfortable with the technology than some of our veterans, but they are in the phase of learning to apply what they were taught about instruction in college and that’s a daunting task in normal circumstances, much less the extraordinary situation we are in currently.”
Adkins continued talking about all staff that make up Floyd County Schools as he said, “We have had bus drivers delivering meals and helping inside our schools, and our cafeteria staff has been superstars. Our maintenance workers and custodians have continued regular work, learned new information and tools, and stepped up sanitization for COVID. Our Family Resource Centers have delivered meals, delivered jump drives, and checked on our students. Our secretaries, finance folks, attendance clerks and instructional aides have been phenomenal in trying to do anything possible to help students and their school families too. And most certainly, our folks have prayed a lot for our students and for each other”
Adkins concludes saying, “I know I have said it before but this week especially, please join me in celebrating our Floyd County family during American Education Week and giving them praise and applause for the outstanding work they are doing for our students.”
