Known for its excellence in education, low crime rates and thriving businesses, the pride that New Albany residents feel for their community is unwavering.
Some aspects of this city have changed, however, as the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe. In order to find a safe, healthy new life after quarantine, the city must evolve to meet residents’ needs, especially in areas such as the New Albany International Business Park, community development and schooling.
Patty Randall, who has been a seventh-grade teacher for New Albany-Plain Local Schools for the past 18 years, has needed to adapt to online learning and the educational changes that are in store for New Albany students. Randall says the biggest challenge has simply been not being there with her students.
“Each of my classes is like a big family and we take care of each other – we grow, we laugh and we learn together,” she says. “So, when COVID hit and we were remote learning, not being able to reassure each other in our usual physical space, that was hard.”
Due to the pandemic’s strong and quick arrival in Ohio, teachers were forced to figure out this new learning model on their own and on the spot.
“In college, you take many courses on classroom management and how to engage a student who has disengaged,” Randall says. “We had nothing on how to stop your toddler from brushing your hair as you are trying to reinforce with your students the importance of connotation in poetry, or what do you do when your dog’s lunch starts to disagree with him while you are leading a discussion on symbolism.”
When it came to transitioning the daily routine to online schooling, Randall’s goal was to host two virtual meetings per week, opting to reduce the size of the meetings after some time to better accommodate student needs and avoid internet connection problems. She asked her students to email her the names of two classmates they felt comfortable working with and two classmates who they wanted to get to know better.
“We had an obstacle and we made it an opportunity.” –Patty Randall
“As a teacher, I loved looking at the various skill sets they had,” she says. “We had an obstacle and we made it an opportunity.”
While the exact future of school proceedings is uncertain, there is no uncertainty about whether NAPLS teachers and staff will do their best to create a safe and motivational learning environment.
“I’m not sure what the future format of our school will be for next year, but I do know I work with an extremely gifted and talented group of educators who care so much about their students’ education and well-being,” Randall says. “Whatever the format, it will be one that is focused on student success both academically and emotionally.”
As a cancer survivor who is therefore immunocompromised, Randall says that she will be sure to take extra safety precautions as well. Her resilience and her dedication to the students of New Albany is just one example of strength in the city.
Business park adjusts
With more than 15,000 workers, the New Albany International Business Park is one of the largest master-planned business parks in the country. Its mission is to find better ways to meet the evolving needs of residents, workers and businesses through effective land use and commercial planning.
Scott McAfee, chief communications and marketing officer for the City of New Albany, says that the business park responded quickly to keep New Albany residents and visitors safe.
“The community development department acted quickly to develop a service delivery method that would allow our essential businesses under construction to continue without costly delays,” he says. “The staff worked with construction teams to implement a virtual inspection process. ... Over 80 percent of construction inspections are now virtual at this time.”
In addition, McAfee says results of a recent informal survey showed that New Albany was in the 95th percentile of communities in the state of Ohio implementing creative practices to ensure customer service delivery.
“The city manager and deputy director of community development were both asked to give presentations to regional organizations highlighting these best practices,” he says.
“The sector was impacted, but nine of our 11 major manufacturers remain open and all are open now." –Scott McAfee
McAfee specifically commends the Google and Facebook construction teams, Holder Construction and Turner Construction, respectively, for quickly implementing social distancing standards on the construction sites. These guidelines included staggering shifts, reducing the number of workers onsite, and adapting the lunch area and break room practices to ensure that the inspectors had a safe place for the necessary onsite inspections.
In terms of how COVID-19 will continue to impact the Business Park in the future, McAfee is optimistic, but acknowledges New Albany hasn’t gone untouched by the pandemic.
“The city has been fiscally responsible and has accumulated a financial carryover that will help sustain city services in the short term, but there will definitely be a negative impact to the city’s finances as a result of COVID-19,” he says. “The sector was impacted, but nine of our 11 major manufacturers remain open and all are open now. Some of those businesses were involved with sanitize-oriented products that were needed in the entire country, and they were not negatively impacted. Other manufacturers and other businesses were impacted, and it’s going to take some time to realize the full financial impact.”
Caitlyn Blair is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
