Students welcomed back to school
EL CENTRO — After more than a year of being away from classrooms and most their classmates, more than 60 students at Margaret Hedrick Elementary School returned to in-person learning Tuesday morning.
In this case, Hedrick, like all other El Centro Elementary School District elementary institutions, was opening its doors to kindergartners as well as transitional kindergartners.
Other schools in the county have resumed in-person classes this week as well.
Hedrick Principal Jamie Sinclair was ecstatic as students started arriving at the school on Tuesday for two hours of instruction in a hybrid model schedule, telling everyone she met how great it was to have the students returning.
Students before being allowed on campus had their temperatures taken with a thermal scanner, and staff members checked to see which students were assigned to which teachers for the next several weeks.
Sinclair said the class times for the grades are staggered, so all the students will not be showing up at the same time. The students, depending on their grade level, have specific entrances when arriving at school.
Many of 60-plus students who showed up Tuesday appeared to be nervous, at first.
Students were asked to extend their arms in front of them while in line to be led to class to ensure the 6-foot social distancing requirement was being met.
Sinclair also pointed to the hula hoops in at least one transitional kindergarten classroom as a way to have the younger students practice social distancing in a fun way.
There were and will be an additional 10 healthcare workers who will check students throughout the school day.
Sinclair pointed out many of these workers in the past helped out at lunch time when that meal was served at school (in-school meals are suspended at this time).
Those 10 extra workers also include restroom supervisors.
Sinclair said if a student were to have a fever, and the parent who dropped off that child had already left, the student would be taken to the healthcare center, which used to be a computer lab with 40 computers. The healthcare center has three beds.
Those 40 computers removed from the room were distributed to classrooms for times when students will be able to use them.
Transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students were allowed back before other students because many of them have never ever been taught before in a school setting.
At ECESD, first- and second-grade students will return to the school buildings today; thirdand fourth-grade students will return Thursday, and fifth and sixth grade instruction begins Friday. Seventh and eighth grades resume in-person instruction on Tuesday of next week. “Next week everyone who wants to can attend (in-person learning),” Sinclair said.
In a typical year, Hedrick’s enrollment is about 500 students, but only
257 of them will return this year. Sinclair said all school classrooms will be in use when the seventhand eighth-graders return to school next week, though the maximum number of students per class is capped at 22.
Kindergarten teacher Ana Marquez showed how she and the school will keep classrooms safe with more space between desks, plus hand sanitizer and other PPE equipment available at every desk.
This instruction, due to COVID-19, will be more difficult, though Sinclair and Marquez explained the young students will have societal emotional activities as well as academics.
For the last two to three weeks, Marquez, though Zoom, spoke to her students and their parents about what the expectations would be when returning to the classroom, including to be sure to wash their hands. She added she is “thrilled” to have her students back in-person. “It’s going to be a different setting,” she said.
Sinclair explained that several of the students’ social needs were not met like they would have been in school. School Resource Clerk Marvel Saasta was busy taking photos of the students who showed up to resume in-person classes Tuesday.
“We are so excited to have kids,” Saasta said.