Unless we have been entirely misled about the difficulties the virus is going to impose upon us as we try to head into the future, the closure of the Everett Public Schools is likely to last longer than at first considered.
Superintendent Priya Tahiliani chose to act with an abundance of caution when she announced Everett’s schools would be shut for 30 days.
Not only did she do the right thing but she was here, in and out of her office on Vine Street, meeting with her staff and making judgments about what to do on the scene.
She didn’t need the mayor’s advice.
She didn’t leave the city for a vacation.
She understood the importance of being available during a difficult time.
What’s more, it appears more likely than not, that the EPS will be closed longer than 30 days, bringing to the fore the likelihood that the school year might already have been compromised by the coronavirus.
It was impossible to imagine just three weeks ago that our world was going to be profoundly reshaped by the virus.
Calling off the remainder of a school year is a very big deal.
Should this occur, it makes Superintendent Tahiliani’s job that much harder and more impossible than many of us might have imagined.
In the meantime, she is cutting her teeth with her new job by diving into it and giving it her all, which is exactly what we should expect of her.
How this year may turn out might already have been determined by the virus.
What happens next year is what really matters.
Planning for the future is what her job is all about.
She is showing what she is made of by sticking around and being here to deal with the disruption.
In a city where the mayor went on vacation with the virus arriving, she has shown fortitude and guts by putting herself out there despite the possibility she could get sick.
Her tenacity will be noted and appreciated by her hardworking colleagues on Vine Street and throughout the district.