GCC Faculty Continues Teaching and Connecting, Despite Layoffs
In mid-March, when the escalating coronavirus pandemic began shuttering schools across the state, Guilford Center for Children (GCC) teachers and staff were faced with the difficult prospect of losing income—and being unable to interact with their young students, missing out on those bonds and relationships that are especially vital for pre-school age children.
Rather than let that happen, GCC staff have spent the last few weeks making sure they remain a presence in the lives of these students, putting together everything from individual lessons to entire websites in order to help maintain educational continuity through the closure.
The parents, for their part, have been finding ways to recognize and support those teachers, who themselves are having to fight through uncertain times.
“We are a very, very close knit community,” said GCC Director Lisa Jones. “My teachers...are going above and beyond. Obviously they’re not getting paid by GCC right now, but they are still in that role—they’re in teacher mode. They miss their kids and their families.”
A non-profit that runs both a year-round, all-day pre-school for children aged three to five as well as a before- and after-school program at Guilford elementary schools, GCC was forced to close and lay off approximately 15 staff pre-school staff members last month.
Jones said that all five of her classrooms, each made up of three teachers or teaching assistants, almost immediately and spontaneously began setting up lessons and resources for students, or just reaching out to say “Hi,” despite knowing they were not required to and would not be paid.
In return, GCC parents have banded together to buoy the teaching staff both financially and emotionally, Jones said, as the uncertainty of the pandemic looms over the school.
“The parents are so supportive to begin with and now in this crazy time, they have been supportive financially to teachers directly, they have given the school donations—some of the parents have continued to pay tuition even though we are closed...so there is just a lot of back forth support and communication.”
Every single classroom has been offered some kind of support by parents, according to Jones. Some parents have hand-delivered gift cards and gift baskets that include pictures and videos of their children at home showing how they were using lessons or materials that teachers provided, she said.
All of GCC’s teachers are still waiting on unemployment benefits, according to Jones, making all this support vital as the staff members wait on applications or other aid to get them through the crisis.
“It’s a tricky time. Obviously it will be coming down the pipeline, but nobody’s gotten a thing yet,” Jones said.
During this frightening and stressful time, though, parents attested that GCC teachers have remained committed to their students and have been making huge efforts to maintain the social connections and provide kids with the same kind of nurturing and learning they had in school.
GCC parent Diane Hall said that her son, Hunter, has asked to go back to school every day since it closed. They have had weekly videoconference meetings—including virtual “show and tell”—with his teacher.
Hall said that another teacher, who isn’t even in the same classroom as her son, recently dropped off materials at her door for him to play and learn with.
“It breaks my heart that they can’t physically be together, but I guess this is the next best thing,” Hall said.
Technology has played a huge part in how teachers have been able to continue to stay in touch. Jones said that YouTube videos, Facebook pages, and Facetime calls have not only allowed teachers to put together curriculum-based activities or storytimes, but also ensured they can still be a part of each other’s community—something that is hugely important to maintain at the pre-school level, she said.
“Seeing [the teachers] face to face, seeing that GCC is still in their lives...we want to keep them growing, keep them thriving, keep them really thirsty and hungry to learn new things,” Jones said.
GCC parent Lindsay Gilberto said that her daughter, Sidney Silverman, looks forward every day to checking the Facebook page where her GCC teacher posts updates, including read-alouds with Norman, the class goldfish.
Silverman has also written notes and drawn pictures to be mailed to front-line health care workers, which was something her teacher helped coordinate.
“We miss GCC terribly and are so sad about missing the many great spring events this lovely school holds,” Gilberto said, “but I am thrilled that [Sidney] has a way to connect with her friends and community.”
Kristen Balsamo, another parent, said that the pandemic shutdown has been difficult for her whole family as they navigate “a range of emotions” related to broken routines. GCC teachers reached out with articles on how to talk to children about these difficult health topics, she said, along with continuing to stay connected to her family.
Knowing that these teachers were doing all this without pay, out of dedication to their work and to their young students, immediately galvanized Balsamo and other parents into action, she said, as they got together to collect monetary donations and gifts “within days” of the closure.
“These amazing people love and nurture our children everyday with patience and positivity and are always there for us,” Balsamo said. “I knew we needed to be there for them.”
Jones said seeing her teachers continuing to show love and seeing parents respond with an outpouring of their own appreciation and kindness is inspiring, and emblematic of the GCC community as a whole.
“It’s amazingly comforting,” Jones said. “I spend my days communicating with them as well. We’re all in this together. We’re here for each other.”
For more information on GCC, visit www.guilfordcenterforchildren.com, or go to the school’s Facebook page at GCCEarlyEd.