LYNN — Last Wednesday was a test for Classical principal Amy Dunn and her Lynn Tech counterpart Carissa Karakaedos.
There was the 10 a.m. teleconference with Lynn School Superintendent Dr. Patrick J. Tutwiler. Then there was the general business of running their respective schools — empty of staff and students because of the COVID-19 threat — remotely.
And then there were their own children. Both Dunn and Karakaedos have school-age children, and all have individualized lesson plans for which they are responsible.
“I’ve never been an elementary school teacher,” said Karakaedos. “I’ve only taught older kids. Now, I’m doing faculty adjunct work for Fitchburg State.
“I’m learning interesting lessons too,” she said. “The way math is being taught today is different than how I learned it. Right now, YouTube and the Internet are my best friends.”
Dunn has three children, all school-age.
“Right now,” she said, shortly after the phone meeting with Tutwiler wrapped up, “I have my teacher hat on.”
“I have three children sitting around the kitchen table with me as we go over lessons. I’m going back to my roots.”
The biggest challenge for her, she said, is that she’s a very regimented person.
“I’m trying to keep that up with everyone in the house by staying in touch with the school,” she said. “We’ve been lucky to be able to keep in touch with a lot of kids, and we’re getting things straightened out with long-distance learning. They go to Lynn Public Schools too, so it’s good to have that connection with everybody.
“I’m also trying to keep my kids as regimented as I’d like them to be,” Dunn said. “My husband (Jason) is working from home too. He’s here to help out, but he has his meetings and calls too.”
Karakaedos sees one issue with what is, for all intents and purposes, forced home-schooling.
“Home is not school,” she said. “My kids, and I’m sure not many kids, don’t look at their houses as school.
“Home is a safe place,” she said. “It’s where they can run around and get crazy. And I’m their mom, not their teacher. Kids test their moms. They don’t test their teachers. I try to be creative with them so it doesn’t seem like learning.”
Dunn agrees with that.
“I have three children and they’re all very different,” she said. “One’s a Type A, one’s a people-pleaser and one’s a free spirit, full of joy. I feel as if there are times I have to strong-arm them to do the work.
“It gives me a lot of appreciation for teachers who are teaching kids,” she said.
Dunn and Karakaedos have much in common aside from the challenges they face wearing multiple hats. Both majored in biology in college, and both ended up teaching together at Tech.
“We had classrooms across the hall,” said Karakaedos, who taught physics while Dunn taught marine biology. “One of the connections she and I had was our affinity for the students. We shared that then, and we share it now.
“We’re always texting each other back and forth,” she said. “We do this together. It’s a village. We may be in different schools, but they’re the same kids.”
“It’s nice to see hard workers moving up,” Dunn said. “Carissa is a very thoughtful person. She really loves the kids. They’re first in her mind.”
Karakaedos feels working parents often put too much stress onto themselves as they navigate the waters of the “new normal.”
“I’m in the kid business,” she said. “I have a stressful, demanding job. I love being a parent, and I love my children.
“My children are the center of my universe,” Karakaedos said. “I think a lot of parents are putting too much pressure on themselves. Truth be told, there’s no playbook or this. No playbook for how to be a working parent with a career, and then have this thrust upon you.”
