For assistant principal Mike Roberson, the Stay Home, Stay Safe order has drastically altered a lot of his former habits. He’s working from home now, uses Hangouts for meetings and as he jokingly said, he’s dealing with a lot less student discipline now than he was a month ago. 

“My primary job is student supervision, teacher observations, day-to-day operations of the building and student discipline,” Roberson said. “Obviously, student discipline is way down, so there’s not as much of that for me to handle.”

However, this overnight routine-change has not stopped him from staying busy and finding new ways to fill his time. 

“I do yoga every morning,” Roberson said. “I try to exercise daily, go for walks around lunchtime, usually an evening walk and even a sunset run or walk. My dogs are pretty tired of going for runs and walks now at this point.”

He’s also spending significantly more time with his family now that his wife and children are all working/learning from home with him. 

“We’ve been doing a lot more family activities because none of us can see our friends,” Roberson said. “Over Christmas break, we taught our kids how to play Euchre. That’s probably the kids’ favorite at this point, so we play that almost every night.”

While Roberson has found new ways to fill his time and work through the challenges living entirely from home presents, he has not been immune to the effects of those challenges.

“On a social/emotional level, not being in the building and not being able to engage with people is the most challenging part of this lockdown,” Roberson said. “It’s disappointing for teachers and administrators because we’re in the business of school because we enjoy engaging and interacting with kids.”

Though this Stay Home, Stay Safe order has been less than ideal, Roberson says he does have one wish for people as this lockdown persists. Something he has been helping the school district achieve as the lockdown continues. 

“I wish everyone had easy access to WiFi and technology,” Roberson said. “I know a lot of kids do, but some people live in areas where it’s just not available or for other reasons. It’s hard for them because now they feel even more isolated, so if everyone had stability and there was a way to get that for everyone, that would be my wish as this lockdown continues.” 

At the end of the day, Roberson says he’s doing well and staying healthy. But there is one group of people that he is genuinely sad for. 

“I just feel really bad for the seniors,” Roberson said. “This should be the most exciting, fun time of their high school career and they’re really missing out right now. It’s heartbreaking to me.”