You can learn a lot about Carls by watching them work.
As a Carleton student, Sam Richardson ’98 volunteered at Northfield Middle School. “Helping the students who struggled and seeing the positive impact teachers had led me to pursue education,” says Richardson, who majored in psychology and educational studies at Carleton.
Now principal at Greenvale Park Elementary in Northfield, Richardson had to help his staff and students and their families pivot quickly when Minnesota governor Tim Walz ordered schools closed in March due to the spread of COVID-19. Educators faced many challenges in the days following Walz’s order—the largest being how to ensure that every student had access to the internet in order to participate in distance learning.
Richardson distributed iPads to everyone in need, and then partnered with local internet service providers to provide connectivity for all 443 students in grades K–5. Once the infrastructure was in place, Richardson worked with teachers to craft a new way of teaching.
“There was no playbook for how schools would operate under distance learning. Solving complex problems requires the critical thinking and communication skills that I developed at Carleton,” says Richardson, a Northfield native who attended Greenvale himself for grades one through three.
Richardson encouraged teachers not to try to recreate their classrooms virtually, but to reinvent what the learning experience might be online. “We realized there is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” he says.
There was also the matter of how staff would continue to provide the range of services for students and families outside of classroom instruction, including meals, counseling, and after-school care.
“The best part of my day used to be when I got to greet the students and hear how they were doing in the morning and again in the afternoon, see the smiles and the get the high fives, and that was gone,” Richardson says. He found new ways to build community and stay connected by recording morning announcement videos, encouraging online spirit days, and passing out enrichment activities and meals via drive-through service.
Construction is under way on a new school building that is scheduled to open in the fall. “There is some sadness and loss at leaving the old building,” Richardson says. “We planned to celebrate with a public event in May. We imagined a procession from the old school to the new school to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. We will find different ways to celebrate.”
6:39 a.m. | Arriving early to kick off national Teacher Appreciation Week, Richardson discovers a sidewalk message from parents and students. He splits his time between school and a home office, which his daughter Siri, who just finished third grade at Greenvale, decorated to replicate his work office.
6:52 a.m. | Each morning Richardson writes, shoots, and edits a video announcement that he posts to YouTube and emails to families. Today’s video describes his failed attempt to get into the new school’s construction site. The videos help him stay connected to students, parents, and staff members.
7:47 a.m. | Richardson checks in with special education staff members via Zoom. The Superman painting behind him was a gift from Glendale Elementary School in the Prior Lake–Savage Area Schools, where he served as principal for seven years. The Superman shield is made up of individual thumbprints from each student at the school.
8:05 a.m. | “The teachers deserve more than a note,” says Richardson as he tucks a gift card into each handwritten thank-you card. “They have completely reshaped how they teach and added technology skills to their toolbox. I see how much time and energy they invest to make distance learning work for families.”
8:58 a.m. | Richardson checks in on a second-grade class via Zoom. He visits online classrooms regularly to greet students and lend words of encouragement. “We do so much work in school to provide individual support and make instructional decisions in real time,” he says. “Using technology to make this happen is tricky.”
Richardson’s wife decorated a pair of shoes for him with the school motto: Every Gecko Every Day. “We need all students here doing their best every day and all adults doing whatever it takes to support each child. The motto reminds us that we can always do better in terms of our equity work.”
9:26 a.m. | Richardson meets—also via Zoom—with Northfield school district superintendent Matt Hillmann to discuss remote and safe ways to celebrate the end of the school year, fifth-grade graduation, and the closure of the current school building.
10:17 a.m. | “Teachers want to be with students in person in the fall,” says Richardson, as he notes construction progress on the new building to share in a morning announcement video. Before quarantine, the students all signed one of the building’s steel beams.
11:13 a.m. | Richardson visits with first-grade teacher Sari Zach as she packs up her classroom. “This process does not provide closure,” he says. “All schools are experiencing this, but we have the added factor of closing down an elementary school that has been a key part of the community for 49 years.”
11:41 a.m. | Richardson helps distribute supplies, learning activities, and meals in the school parking lot. “I thrive on seeing people, and so the drive-through is my chance to encourage parents, greet kids, and stay connected,” he says.
