School

Baker Elementary School

The new normal is still a mystery. Will the pandemic cause permanent changes in the American lifestyle? Or are masks and social distancing temporary? At this point, no one knows what life is going to look like three months or six months from now. But experts are talking. Educators, religious leaders, corporate executives, and small-business owners are preparing for the future. Here are some of the ideas leaders are kicking around.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different.”

Mitigation is my life. Or so I’m told by the experts who repeat the word over and over again at press conferences. Puzzled members of the TV audience are turning to online dictionaries when they hear words they don’t understand. When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the coronavirus “apex is higher than we thought,” Merriam Webster lookups of apex (highest point) spiked 4,000 percent. The same thing happened when Dr. Anthony Falci said on March 15 that Americans would have to “hunker down significantly.” Hunker down (stay in the same place) lookups soared. The words trip off the lips of politicians and epidemiologists as if everyone in the viewing audience understands the medical lingo. I decided to put together a COVID-19 glossary. Here it is ...

When light seems hard to find, and skies seem darker than usual, it can be hard to feel hopeful. COVID-19 has slowly made its way to our doorstep, and along the way taken our plans and tossed them by the wayside. We fear the future, the unknown. We miss our friends, our jobs, and our routine. As the numbers rise, and each day lasts longer than the one before, hope seems to be further than 6 feet away.

Homeschooling has been anything but a drag for Ben Bussard (10), and Bridger (11) and Parker Burrus (8). Longtime neighbors in Lipscomb, the boys are best friends and constant companions. Bridger and Ben were born only six months apart, and have been playing together since the sandbox. Recent school closures have allowed the boys to spend more time together, and that has resulted in some ingenious projects.

After announcing on March 18 that the Canadian Community Center was closing due to the coronavirus outbreak, Director Ike Julian has continued to honor the center’s mission, “to improve the health and vitality of our community.”

Summer in March? That’s according to mesquite trees. Mesquites are usually the last trees to put out leaves in May, signaling the end of spring and beginning of the Texas summer. Nobody here has ever seen “skeet” green up in March, but that’s what is happening. Typically West Texas has a cold snap right before Easter. Sometimes, it freezes in April. After that, native plants like lantana, hackberry, and mesquite come to life. Usually it happens like clockwork, but not this year. Timing in the year of the coronavirus pandemic is unpredictable.

The Citadelle is initiating a community art project called ‘Chalk the Walk Canadian.’ The local initiative will begin Thursday, March 26 and run until Friday, April 3.

There was no spring break last week for many school officials, who spent their time preparing a plan to continue the work of educating Canadian’s students. Those plans take full advantage of the benefits provided by good wireless internet access and school-issued laptops and iPads that were sent home with students at most grade levels.