It is doubtful that anyone ahead of the calendar change to 2020 would have made a New Year’s resolution for schools along the lines of “create learning models to fully have students at home” or “find different ways to hold school events while six feet apart.”

Yet, those were some of the challenges faced in the last year. There were many more.

Despite the hurdles, there were moments worth smiling about, albeit behind masks for the greater part of the year.

Before the pandemic, a new partnership was created between the Newtown Public School District and the Newtown Senior Center through the Parent Educator Advisory Council (PEAC), winter concerts were held, school assemblies fostered learning, students participated in theatrical productions, student efforts supported local charities, and everything seemed on track for second half of the school year.

Then the pandemic’s ripples were felt locally. Newtown schools switched from full in-school learning about a quarter of the way through 2020. A distance learning model was implemented. When school resumed for the 2020-21 school year, a hybrid model, with student cohorts rotating attending school on different days, was used. Younger grade students later returned in full to attending school, with the upper grades utilizing the hybrid model until both younger and upper grades were changed to remote learning for the weeks leading up to winter break. As of December 18, the younger grades were planned to return in full to schools for January 4, with the upper grades set to return in the hybrid model, with the full return planned for later in the month.

Between the start of distance learning and the final change to remote learning that closed out education in Newtown in 2020, many things happened.

Events and celebrations, not in chronological order, included the school district’s food service provider, Whitsons Culinary Group, overseeing meal distribution for students of families in need of food while school buildings were closed; Newtown Middle School’s PTA overseeing the completion of a Ben’s Bells “Be Kind” mural for the school; Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School students graduating during events orchestrated to reflect social distance protocols; NHS Class of 2020 graduates returning for a car parade through town to celebrate the culmination of their Newtown education; elementary schools hosting drive-by end-of-the-school-year events for students to wave to educators from their family’s car; and learning continuing in new and different ways, thanks to educators, parents, the community, and technology.

While the challenges continue, there are no doubt smiles ahead for Newtown’s students in 2021.