School Leaders in Times of Pandemic

Leah C. Lazaro
Teacher In-Charge
Pandalla Elementary School

COVID-19 has greatly affected people from all walks of life. National economic growth has slowed down since the birth of this pandemic. People of all ages, livelihood, and small and big enterprises have suffered due to the restrictions of community quarantine. Classes in all grade levels have also been disrupted from the usual face-to-face classes to remote learning, online classes, and radio-based instruction.

This circumstance challenged school leaders in the many aspects of school operation. Their roles must also adapt to the requirements of learning delivery modality as manifested in the Learning Continuity Plan (LCP), to the strict health protocols, and to every administrative and supervisory aspects of mobilizing a basic education institution.
To ensure continuity of learning, the implementation of different learning delivery modalities such as television-based instruction, radio-based instruction, on-line classes and modular approach became the options of schools, given the access to technological facilities.

Uncertain as it may seem, especially in the early months of learning delivery modality (LDM) implementation, school leaders have engaged to work with their stakeholders, be it internal or external. The linkage system must then respond to these trying times.

School leaders serve as either the father or mother in school. And in this time of pandemic, the more that we take care of our teachers, parents and learners so learning can continue. The learners, who are at the core of our LCP should rather learn in this kind of atmosphere, receiving the same care, intervention and instructional supervision. For the sake of our learners, school leaders can make learning still accessible while dealing with the pandemic.

Hence, school leaders must be committed in supervising their teachers in the implementation of the chosen learning delivery modality. They are responsible for what students learn and so, to ensure that learning takes place at all times, instructional support and technical assistance must be extended to teachers to improve their instruction.