FAIRMONT — Teachers, students and parents across the nation are dealing with the coronavirus crisis as best they can. Adapting technologically and rolling out food programs, communities have found ways to adapt in uncertain times.

Thanks to some ingenuity and elbow grease, one school in Fairmont did not miss a beat when Gov. Tim Walz first announced that schools would be closing. St. John Vianney Principal Sarah Striemer notes how her hard-working staff allowed students’ education to carry on from the very beginning.

“I’ve got an amazing group of teachers that are super supportive of each other and our families,” she said. “That Sunday the governor made the announcement that schools were going to be closing, I met with Superintendent (Joe) Brown and the other administrators from town.

“We watched what the governor said and then we met to come up with a game plan, and I stayed with them until we figured out what was going on with daycare and the food program.

“Then I went back to St. John Vianney and let our teachers and school board and our two priests know that we would be meeting later that day. So we met in our school library and went over what my plan was, and then they gave additional suggestions. The teachers stayed that night and worked until 10 p.m. getting things prepared for that first eight days, because I decided I didn’t want the kids to have any downtime.”

Striemer believes it was important for the children to get right into a routine. By doing so, she says the school could explain expectations and students would not lose any educational time.

“We had school that Monday and Tuesday, and on Tuesday when the kids left, they left with everything that they needed. It’s worked really well for our students.

“We decided we wanted to have a good mix of pen-and-paper learning and technology, so we did not send home any kind of devices with kids,” she said. “We did know that the majority of our students have devices at home and have internet access. So that made it easier for the kids who may live in an area where there WiFi connection is not very good.

“The teachers make daily contact with students and families to make sure everybody is on track. We’re doing everything we would normally do in the classroom so that whenever we get to come back, there’s not going to be any lag time. Everybody should be able to pick up where we normally would have been, whether we come back in May or in the fall.”

Striemer keeps up with teachers weekly via a Zoom meeting, and has heard positive reports all around.

“They’re having really good contact with the majority of students, and kids are getting their work turned in,” she said. “They’re doing that through Google classroom, taking pictures and emailing those to the teachers, or we also have a spot at the church where people can drop off assignments.”

Striemer also keeps up with families, noting she contacts them once per week just to see how they’re doing. She is proud of the staff, saying they understand the importance of a child’s education and emotional well-being.

“If we wouldn’t have jumped in and started doing things right away, that would have raised a lot of questions for the kids,” she said. “Since we were able to start in right away, the kids knew their teachers were still taking care of them and this is what the next few weeks were going to be like.”­