Blomstedt: As pandemic wanes, Nebraska schools should avoid slipping into old ‘normal’ | Nebraska

“I keep hearing, every once in a while, average is normal,” he said. “Well, that doesn’t seem very satisfactory to me.”

Educators have a chance to establish a new normal that is “not the usual, not average,” he said.

Blomstedt made the comments at the Administrators’ Days conference at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney.

More than 1,000 educators from Nebraska schools attended the conference, which is part pep rally and part cram session as educators learn about trends and legal changes affecting schools in the year ahead.

Several recent high school graduates joined Blomstedt on stage to offer their thoughts on the impact of the pandemic.

Some districts in Nebraska are already welcoming new teachers this week. Students will start returning to most districts in mid-August.

In his message to leaders, Blomstedt said that before the pandemic, schools were experiencing unacceptable achievement gaps based on race, ethnicity, poverty and special needs.

He said he doesn’t want to return to that point and re-establish the practices that entrench that as normal.

Blomstedt said that when floods, fires and tornadoes strike, people don’t just rebuild but try to rebuild better.

He noted that 77,000 students across the state were chronically absent last year.

“That’s like 23% of our total student population. That’s a lot,” he said. “Pre-pandemic that was 45,000. I don’t care much for this number either. That’s not the normal I want.”

He offered another post-pandemic state statistic: a 31 percentage point gap between the math proficiency of English language learners and all students.

Before the pandemic, the gap was 26 percentage points, he said.

“Again, I’m not happy with normal,” he said.

In light of the teacher shortage, officials have to figure out ways to get more teachers into the classroom, he said.

The number of unfilled teaching positions keeps growing — 482 in Nebraska at last count, he said.

“We have to be unusual and, quite frankly, we just have to figure out a way that we’re going to grow and get better together.”

Blomstedt said he is excited that a resolution (LR335) passed in the last session of the Legislature set a target for postsecondary education and training goals for young Nebraskans.

In the resolution, lawmakers set a state goal of having at least 70% of 25- to 34-year-old Nebraskans having a degree, certificate, diploma or other postsecondary or industry-recognized credential with economic value by 2030.

He said he was “a little dumbfounded” to learn that the number is currently 48%.

The graduates who joined Blomstedt on stage recounted how the pandemic impacted their lives. They said it influenced their study habits, how they coped with uncertainty and anxiety. It increased their empathy and their understanding of the tough decisions school leaders were making, they said. Isolated at home, some discovered new passions and hobbies, or used the time alone for self-reflection, they said.

They said the remote and hybrid learning models that schools used pushed them to be more accountable for their own education. But it had a negative effect on some kids who lost some of their self-discipline, they said.

Carson Richters, who graduated from Centennial High School in Utica in 2021, said that some, upon returning to in-person learning, “kind of resorted to ‘I only got a year left, so I’m just going to fake it till I make it.’ ”

Sophia Cox, who graduated from Lincoln North Star High School in 2021, said she learned to adapt, to cope with uncertainty and to manage anxiety.

“I also learned a lot about accountability and also empathy,” Cox said. “That was really important. Even when I was frustrated, I learned a lot about remembering, why are we wearing these masks, why are we taking these safety precautions. Because a lot of people aren’t as fortunate as me, and it’s serious.”