By FRED KRONER
Veteran’s Day will be here soon (Wednesday, Nov. 11), but how that will look at area school districts is still somewhat unsettled.
Mahomet-Seymour is changing the look of its traditional Veteran’s Day ceremony, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but St. Joseph-Ogden, Oakwood and Heritage are still seeing what will be possible.
“We have some awesome teachers in our district who are planning a virtual ceremony for Veteran’s Day,” M-S superintendent Lindsey Hall said. “The Veteran’s Day ceremonies across the district have become a wonderful tradition in acknowledging and thanking veterans for their service and sacrifice, but we realize that the ceremony must look different this year – no less special – due to COVID 19.”
Students at M-S schools will be in attendance again this year on Veteran’s Day.
Jacob Beinborn is a music teacher at Middletown Prairie Elementary and he is helping to coordinate the day’s activities.
In a typical year, he said, “the gym at Middletown is filled with hundreds and hundreds of students, as well as many of the veterans connected to our school and their families.
“It tends to be one of the largest assemblies, if not the largest assembly each year at MPE,” Beinborn added. “I have many fond memories each year of our students meeting the veterans that visit our school, presenting them with handmade cards, the walls covered with student art, projects, and interviews with veterans, as well as students proudly getting to introduce a veteran to their peers, many in their uniforms.”
The hope is to return to that plan in the future.
“Given the restrictions and best practices for social distancing and virus mitigation, it would be unwise to still host the event this year in its typical approach,” Beinborn said. “The unfortunate reality is also that many of the veterans that visit our school for our ceremony are also among the more vulnerable populations to this virus.”
The district wasn’t willing to let the day go unnoticed, however.
“We did not wish to allow this to get in the way of still honoring and recognizing the efforts and sacrifices that our veterans have made for our country,” said Beinborn, who has worked in conjunction with Lincoln Trail music teacher Sue Keeble to plan the 2020 event. “To this, we are still harnessing the talents and efforts of students across the district to produce a virtual Veteran’s Day ceremony that will be distributed in a video format.
“This will include components from each of the schools in our district. While this is not the same for our students, to see and meet these veterans in person, we hope that our virtual ceremony will still be able recognize their efforts and sacrifices on Veteran’s Day.”
Beinborn hopes that families will understand the need for extra caution this fall.
“Our students and staff certainly take great pride in the assemblies each year,” Beinborn said. “Many of these students have close connections to veterans, some as family members and family friends.
“Both of my parents served in the Air Force, so I share a personal connection with this ceremony as well. I always look forward to the ceremony that we host each year to recognize and honor the veterans of our community.”
Oakwood
The Oakwood district will not be in attendance on Veteran’s Day.
When that fact is combined with the in-person attendance for the rest of the week, it puts high school principal Tim Lee in a quandary.
“We will only have half the kids the day before and half the day after,” Lee said. “So, this becomes a scheduling problem.
“We are not sure what we are doing with Veterans Day this year.”
St. Joseph-Ogden
St. Joseph-Ogden plans to have in-person instruction this year on Veteran’s Day.
High school principal Brian Brooks said various options are still being discussed about how to honor and recognize the veterans.
“We are looking into possibly getting a video message from a SJ-O veteran for our students and staff to watch,” Brooks said. “We typically have a gathering at our Veterans Memorial on the South Lawn for Veteran’s Day, with multiple Veterans in attendance and one Veteran who speaks to our students.
“Due to COVID restrictions, we won’t be able to do that this year.”
Heritage
Tom Davis, the superintendent of the Heritage school district, knows that the policies of the past won’t happen this year.
“At Homer (kindergarten through eighth grade), after the concert with military and patriotic songs, we would honor all vets present and then have a reception with junior high kids serving the vets and also asking them to share about their experiences,” Davis said. “It had always been a hit seeing the generations conversing.
“Sadly, that probably can’t happen this year.”
High school music teacher Justin Lee has been in charge of a presentation for older students.
“We annually honor all Vets in attendance and invite them to our Meet the Player Night at the high school with Villa Grove/Heritage scrimmages and a three-point contest,” Davis said. “Basketball is also somewhat in doubt from Gov. Pritzker’s latest statements, so all that is also on hold as we await basketball in general and all the indoor contact sports with IHSA.
“Maybe a virtual presentation is possible, asking Veterans to join us, or at an electronic performance, but with the limitations indoor for school also, that may be difficult.”
Administrators at all area schools hope that this year’s interruption to traditional Veteran’s Day recognition ceremonies are just temporary.
