Even though the school year ended for Birmingham City School (BCS) students in mid-March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recently named interim superintendent Mark Sullivan and public school leaders throughout the state still face some unknowns—like when the traditional academic year can begin and what accommodations can be made for students and parents uncomfortable with the return.

If we don’t put some interventions in place, when kids come back in the fall some of the more academically fragile students may not be able to make up that summer slide or corona slide,” Sullivan said.

A BCS assessment found that about 20 percent of its students don’t have internet access, so a committee of educators is studying how to provide students with the technology and other resources if school buildings are closed in the fall, Sullivan explained.

This gives Birmingham an advantage over other school systems when it comes to alternatives for providing instruction, Sullivan said, adding that BCS is also working to recruit and hire teachers and staff.

Whatever the challenge, Sullivan said the solution rests with the lessons he has learned over the years working with BCS, particularly that every student, parent, teacher, and support employee is valuable—and they need to know it.