My First Week Back as a School Psychologist During a Pandemic
My first week back as a School Psychologist during a Pandemic
This week was EXHAUSTING. This week was LONG. This week was ROUGH. Despite it all, this week was necessary in order to prepare for our kids to come back to work.
The week was a four day week, with no students in our building. We were given 4 days to prepare for both our virtual learners and for our students attending in person.
A lot has happened this past week. I tried summarizing it for you as best I could, but it is quite difficult. I can guarantee, I missed a lot!
Day 1:
I was excited to see all of my work friends but nervous because in the back of my head, I knew there is still a pandemic going on.
There was a lot of confusion about how many classes each teacher would get. Teachers who were teaching remotely, were still not informed.
Teachers were moving ALL of their things out of the classrooms. We had a faculty meeting (6 ft apart) where the Principal also had no idea what was going on. Things from admin were changing every second.
HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY: I had a picnic with my teacher friends outside and caught up with all the things we did in the summer.
Day 2:
I attended trainings that did not apply to School Psychologists.
I spent a lot of the day calling my Special Education parents to determine if students were attending our program in person or remotely.
I spent a lot of time running between classrooms (and looking for teachers since all their locations changed) to ask questions about our students.
I spoke to our principal with all things going on in the building.
HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY: I was able to decorate part of my office.
Day 3:
Attended a School Psychologist Faculty Meeting.
We were given direction on Chapter 408 Regulations
Still waiting on PPE from administration...
Worked with the nurse on students with IEP’s in the building.
Continued working with my SpEd teachers on working with my students.
Recorded a Welcome Back Video for my students.
Helped teachers clean their rooms
HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY: I was able to see my psychologists co-workers and felt at ease knowing they also had no clue what was going on.
Day 4:
My car broke down! -___- (Luckily, I have great co-workers to jumpstart me bright and early in the morning).
Attended another School Psych Faculty Meeting.
Called more parents on the phone.
Finally had time to make copies of all the paperwork from the spring CSE meetings, time to file them and time to send them away to admin.
Fixed and organized my office, including removing 2 old test kits, and all files for students who moved to the middle school.
HIGHLIGHT OF MY DAY: Pizza for lunch!! Because we deserved it!
My car getting jumped for the second time in one day! (Image above not my car)
Every school psychologist, faculty and staff member has a lot going on right now. VIrtual, in-person, or hybrid, we are all going into this field as if it is our first year as a School Psychologist.