The One Room Schoolhouse

Our oldest son graduated from high school in 2019.  I had been in public elementary classrooms regularly since he had been in kindergarten.  James, my husband, is a private religious educator in programs serving public schools and had worked for nearly 20 years with public high school students.   As the parents of 6 children, with these front row seats to public education, we had growing concerns.  Our kids had had many fantastic teachers who really made a positive difference in their lives, but the encroachment of social issues and the gradual decline of academic expectations kept us on our toes with the education of our own children. On March 16, 2020, I was in the classroom of my third-grade twins on my regular weekly visit to help the teacher.  We learned we were going into a two-week COVID-19 lockdown, anticipated to re-open after Spring Break, and so we were packing up just a little more than usual.  Secretly, I was thrilled.  When I was a young girl, I didn’t play dolls or house