Julie Otero, Nelson, NE

We are asking how COVID-19 is impacting rural communities. Read below for a perspective from Superintendent Julie Otero of Nelson, NE. You can share yours here: http://bit.ly/iaartcovid

I wanted to share with you that ESU 9 has been absolutely a life-line during the COVID-19 crisis. First of all, from the administrative point of view, we have had weekly zoom meetings that have been extremely informative. Drew Harris (ESU 9 Administrator) guides us in a reflective way asking us to share what we are doing for graduation, lunches, prom, instructional services, etc. and then he takes the information and keeps it updated in a document to which we can go back and refer. He also keeps the latest information from the commissioner and the governor in front of us and we discuss it. I have used this document several times during the course of the time we have been out of school. Drew keeps us focused because he understands what it is like to be a superintendent dealing with situations and yet he understands at an ESU his job is to help the schools in his district.

Furthermore, the ESU 9 teaching and learning staff has been absolutely incredible hosting learning webinars for e-learning to help our teachers become proficient using an alternative means of instruction. They have not only worked with grade level teachers but with content teachers as well. They even differentiated the learning further by offering sessions on on- line learning tools and having teachers pick which session they wanted to learn more about it. Finally, the technology help we received from securing e-rate bids, to WAN bids has been indispensable. I am here to tell you, I would be lost without the professional guidance received from ESU 9, and I feel so fortunate to be in the ESU 9 area where they have gone above and beyond in helping us see our way through this crisis.