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The motto for the Westwood Community School District is "Bulldog Strong: Unleash your potential." Even during a global pandemic, that motto still holds true. When COVID-19 arrived in Michigan in 2020, Westwood Superintendent Dr. Stiles Simmons recalls he recognized the time as a make or break situation for the district and its leadership. "We realized we had one of two choices: you could put your head down and lament the fact that you're going through a pandemic that none of us had ever experienced before in our lifetimes or you could see it as an opportunity to improve, to become stronger, to become more capable, to do a better job of educating students and understand the community; we decided to take the latter approach."

The district rolled out an At Home Learning Plan which took some adjusting to for students and staff alike, but had become manageable over time. Virtual learning has kept academics humming along but student engagement and childhood stress and worry became new challenges. "The pandemic has had a negative impact on student achievement as well as the social and emotional well-being of students," Simmons says. He adds that the district leadership analyzed available data on social/emotional and academic performance for the 2020-2021 school year and saw a need for additional assistance for the 2021-2022 school year. "We realized we needed to start the school year off by focusing on mental health support as well as social and emotional learning strategies. Now we are starting to shift our focus back toward our core business which is educating students and increasing student achievement and performance."

To address the social and emotional needs of the students and staff, the district utilized state and federal funding to hire mental health professionals, and has partnered with Concentric Educational Services to bring added supports including attendance support and home wellness visits. Simmons says the district has also worked with the International Institute for Restorative Practices to train staff in integrating restorative practices in the schools, a process which will assist the school community to learn and practice social emotional learning skills and strengthen relationships.

So far this school year has thrived on in-person learning and students are benefitting from social interaction with peers. Like many educators, Simmons believes students benefit from in-classroom learning and contact with others. "There have been times during the school year where we were close to transitioning back to a virtual learning program but we've been able to really fight hard to protect in-person learning and we think our students are better for it," he says.

He adds that the district's Return to Learn Program has been effective in lessening the instances of outbreaks or individuals subject to quarantine and has been supported by families in the district. "Our plan has very strong mitigation strategies embedded in it and we do a really good job of enforcing those mitigation strategies. Over the past two years, we have not had any outbreaks as outbreaks are defined by the CDC and the MDHHS. We're pleased with the implementation of the Westwood Safe Return to Learn Plan," he says. Mitigation strategies include frequent handwashing, proper wearing of masks, physical distancing, increased ventilation in classrooms, and cleaning/disinfecting surfaces.

Students at Tomlinson Middle School have enjoyed in-person learning this past school year.

Looking back, Simmons says the district has emerged from the challenges the pandemic brought more capable to handle any type of situation that may arrive. He believes that with each challenge the schools have had to face, they have gained knowledge through understanding how to address those challenges. The focus now will be on using federal funds the district has received to improve and upgrade school facilities and equipment. "Prior to the pandemic, our finances were fragile. Now we're financially healthy and we're able do much more for our students," he says. "This is an opportunity for us to really improve and improve in significant ways."

Simmons knows the schools did not succeed this far alone; he expresses appreciation for the support the district has received from both within and without-- the families and the community. "I'd like to thank the staff, our parents, and our students for their resilience, their cooperation, all that they do and have done to help up to emerge through this pandemic much stronger that we were before."