UNSUNG HEROES: Teachers, librarians master how to monitor, adjust amid pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic forced them to adjust to new ways of doing things, but lending a helping hand was one that neither group had any reservations about despite the occasional bumps along the way.

“Everybody had to kind of rethink the way that they taught. Teachers automatically monitor and adjust. That’s what we’re known for,” said Desiree Lewis, a second-grade teacher at Rivelon Elementary School and the Orangeburg County 2019-20 District Teacher of the Year.

She said balancing dual modalities of learning, which included the shuffle between virtual and in-person instruction, was “the biggest challenge” educators had to face, but the Orangeburg County School District was among those working to make the process a little easier with, among other things, the provision of internet hot spots and computer devices for children.

She said she doesn’t consider herself a hero, but that teaching is something that must come from the heart.

With her voice cracking with emotion, Lewis said, “I do it from my heart. It’s genuine. It’s something you can’t get paid for.”

She said the pandemic has caused teachers to have to learn how to make the best of the daunting challenges that educators faced.

“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. We’re going to be making lemonade in the fall. There are children who did exceptionally well with virtual teaching. There are some that needed to be in a classroom because kids, especially the babies because I teach second grade, need a classroom,” Lewis said.

She said they especially need the hugs, high-fives, back pats and brain kisses only a teacher can give.

“They need the constant positive reinforcement, the motivation foundation from the teacher and they didn’t have that. I did virtual high-fives through the iPad. Then there were kids who got lost along the way. You saw them on Monday, you didn’t see them again until Thursday. You saw them in January, you didn’t see them again until March. That was difficult, but we’re going to keep squeezing and making a lot of lemonade,” Lewis said.

“We’re going to constantly adjust because we’ve come out with a rollout plan. Some things are going to remain the same. School is never going to go back to the way it was. It’s still going to be precautions in place because COVID is real. It’s very real, and we have to look out for not only our students, but also our faculty and staff. It’s not over,” she said.

COVID not only impacted the delivery of education, but it also impacted the overall health and safety of the public, with vaccination clinics serving as ways for the people to get inoculated in a timely fashion.

The Orangeburg County Library staff was among those assisting in that effort, which included vaccination clinics at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds.

“We helped with registering people for their vaccines. At times we even helped direct traffic out there because you would have 400 to 1,000 people showing up in the beginning for their vaccine. … We would help with bringing people from their vehicles. … We had people out there that could not read and write that were adults, and we would fill out paperwork for them,” OCL Circulation Supervisor Amy Ridgeway said.

Ridgeway said the staff enjoyed being a presence in the community beyond the library walls.

“We love our community, and want to serve our community, and this was just another way that we were able to do it. … It allowed us to really connect again with our community because they weren’t allowed to come back in here.

“So we were able to reconnect with them, and when people would see us, they would sit there and carry on conversations, tell you their concerns, and you would just talk with them. So it wasn’t about just passing somebody through, it was about trying to make that personal connection with them,” she said. “We were able to work with Family Health Center and tRMC.”

Orangeburg County Library Director Anna Zacherl said, “We’re always looking for opportunities to be out with people. It was just as uplifting for us, I think, as it was for them to see them because we really missed them.”

The director continued, “One of the best parts of our job, I think, is that it’s really limitless in terms of how we can interact with the community.”

The OCL, for example, worked with the organization Growing Calhoun Orangeburg Bamberg, or Growing COB, to provide fresh food to individuals within the community.

“They used our parking lot to give out fruits and vegetables,” said Javon Moore, OCL’s head of digital literacy, but the effort soon grew beyond that two-week partnership with Growing COB.

“We started using our budget and just started buying fruits and vegetables. If you pulled up and you wanted four bags, we gave you four bags,” Moore said, noting that several library staff helped with the effort.

Zacherl said the library has also enjoyed a years-long partnership with FoodShare Orangeburg, through which it has also distributed food boxes for the community.

“FoodShare and the library wrote a grant together for the Central Carolina Community Foundation, and they awarded us $30,000. We used that to pad the money that we were using to purchase the fruits and vegetables,” she said, along with the purchase of bags to put the food in and Ziploc bags in which a mask was placed.

There were 6,510 bags given away, equaling 54,000 pounds, or 27 tons, of food.

Moore said, “We started out with 50 bags, then we moved up to 150 and then we did 350.”

Zacherl said while the library eventually outgrew its capacity to fully handle the packing and distribution of food on site, it still serves as a site where individuals can place an order for a food box through the FoodShare program.

“They can call us about placing an order, but we’re not disseminating food here right now because of COVID,” the director said.

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said he appreciated the library staff’s efforts to serve their community.

“Anything we needed done, they’ve jumped out there and helped. Even having seen the fear firsthand of one of their colleagues being affected and even hospitalized when nobody knew what was what, they were willing to jump out there to do a lot of the stuff that was necessary,” Young said. 

None of the library staff, nor the district educator, saw themselves as heroes, but rather just doing something they love.

“I wouldn’t say hero because it’s something that comes from the heart. I think just knowing that you’re doing something that’s going to be good for someone else, that’s what makes you a hero. You don’t have to hear the title of hero. It’s something that you do,” Lewis said.

She recalled how teachers had to adjust to the drive-thru graduation parades marked by air kisses, fist bumps and other non-contact protocols.

“We passed out books as well. That’s what the children needed. They enjoyed getting the books. Almost every school in the district had some type of book extravaganza. … We also did food boxes. The school district partnered with Save the Children and Harvest Hope would come,” Lewis said.

She said reading camps and other summer activities were also in place to help students with “summer slide” and to stay on track academically.

Lewis continued, “Our job is never-ending. … We still did things to provide for our faculty and our staff and our students. We wanted to make sure that they were at the forefront, that they understood that you may not be in the building, but learning is not going to stop. You may not be in the building, but you ‘re still going to be protected even if you are home.”

She said the mental strain that COVID places on faculty and staff was real.

“It was mentally challenging to deal with death, or deal with someone getting sick and having to quarantine and not knowing if you’ve been exposed, not knowing if you’re taking something home. Our district had two vaccination clinics that they offered to faculty and staff to get vaccinated,” Lewis said.

The educator said she is hopeful for the future but acknowledges there will be occasional hiccups.

“We’re ready to get back to normalcy. It’s a long road ahead,” Lewis said.

Zacherl said the library stands ready to assist teachers with whatever they may need and issued a direct message to them.

“Our partnership is so crucial. If there is anything that the teachers need, please do not hesitate to reach out to us because we want to be involved. We want to be there for you.

“If there’s a specific book that you want to teach, and you don’t have 30 copies or 10 copies, let us know. We will get it for you. If you want us to come in in our Pete the Cat costume and read to the kids, we will do that. … We want to be on the same page with you guys,” she said.