VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Jay Height:
Hi, I’m Jay Height here at Shepherd community. And we’re excited this week to share with you a little bit about what we’re doing to deal with the learning loss that’s happened through COVID. There’s hope in our team, whether it’s the school or whether it’s after school at the summer camp are working hard. That in the next two years, we’re going to get all of our kids, at least at grade level, if not further. Here’s how we’re doing it.

Renee Pizulo:
The negative impact is obviously the learning loss that’s happened through this year with the virtual learning.

Valerie Eiler:
One way is just loss of time at schools. Wednesdays is an e-learning day for us so that we can deep clean the building. Our kiddos need the consistency, so that everyday learning. There’s also been more anxiety and frustration than I have ever seen in our students. A lot of that stems from things happening at home, but some of us at school too, they realize that they’re behind and that is very challenging for them.

Renee Pizulo:
So within student ministries, we have opened a couple of different e-learning sites where students can come and do their work, and we provide staff to help come alongside them, to do their work and encourage them to stay focused and to be in a safe and secure place to get their work done. During the summer, we are ramping up our academic portion within our summer camps to help kids less than the learning loss.

Valerie Eiler:
We are very excited next year to add a reading specialist position. Again, that teacher will be working with kids that are struggling with readings specifically. We are also adding a title I tutor. The tutor will work with our lowest kiddos one-on-one.

Renee Pizulo:
I am hopeful because our students within student ministries and in shepherd as a whole are resilient and our kids have overcome a lot already. So different losses that they’ve had over this period of COVID just seeing what they’ve gone through before, it gives me hope that they are going to come through this even better.

Valerie Eiler:
So the number one reason that I’m hopeful is that God is the leader of our school. And I believe sincerely that he has a plan for every child in our school. The challenges aren’t new for our students. They persevere through a lot of things. So I am confident that they can also persevere through this learning loss.

Jay Height:
So we’re putting our money where our mouth is and adding a new reading specialists. We’re excited to be putting in a library here as part of the shared system with the Indianapolis Marion county public library, we are working hard with the mind trust and the United way to provide additional services. This summer we’re on the road to recovery. Won’t you join us?