School-Based Management Amid the New Normal

Russel M. Elgincolin

It was mid-March of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic brought change in the educational landscape worldwide and brought havoc to almost every aspect of our lives. It took seven months to prepare the school community into a Learning Continuity Plan implementation, including the allocation of resources which is a very critical aspect of School-Based Management.

In what is normally a budget segregated into a wide variety of purposes, a huge chunk of School Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) was modified to finance the procurement of printing supplies to answer the need of reproducing the Self-Learning Printed Modules in support to what we now call as Modular Learning modality.

In terms of enrollment, it is an enormous challenge for a huge school to modify prioritization and financial allocation more so that the pandemic happened at the middle of the year when the general appropriation of budget is already in place and a large part was already consumed. But management calls for being resourceful and there will always be good souls responding to the call of partnership. LGUs, alumni, and other stakeholders, affected by pandemic themselves were generous and understanding to cater the needs of the school in terms of health and safety supplies provision, printing supplies, and other services.

Internal stakeholders including the DepEd leaders and teachers have adjusted to this situation which they have never experienced before. These teachers, being the most essential part of school management, made us succeed at the halfway of this school year with their patience, resourcefulness, and commitment to implement the New Normal way of educating our youth. School Heads’salute goes to all of them!

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The author is Principal I, Lipay National High School Sta.Cruz, Zambales