K-12 students learn in class and at home
On the first day back to school in Shelton last month (Sept. 8), one young student was so excited to see his friends and teachers that he stumbled from his mother’s vehicle, fell to the pavement scraping his elbow, and bolted upright to continue his beeline for the entrance.
“He was fine. He couldn’t have cared less. He just wanted to get in the school building,” according to Dr. Beth Smith, Shelton’s interim superintendent of schools who is expected to retire at the end of this school year.
That scenario probably played out a hundred times in front of dozens of educational institutions throughout Fairfield County on the first day of school, which was like no other in modern history. Never in recent memory have children been forced to stay away from the classroom for so long because of a worldwide medical crisis, and never have so many children anxiously awaited their return to school.
“Any kid who ever complained about school is probably not doing that anymore,” said Dr. Susie Da Silva, Ridgefield superintendent of schools, thinking of the countless times students saw a single snowflake and prayed for a day off, or the blank stares and daydreaming that generally occur in the days leading up to summer vacation.
“Everybody is so happy to be back. You can almost see their smiles behind their masks,” Da Silva said. “Children are enthusiastic and excited to be back in school…We’re very grateful to serve the kids and have them back in the community,” she said.
“Remarkably smooth,” is the way Da Silva characterized Ridgefield’s first week back. “It was truly a wonderful, wonderful week. We were very lucky,” she said, adding the feedback received from families that chose to send their children back to school has been incredibly positive.
Most school systems reported a relatively easy transition for students, teachers, and administrators in the first week of school, even after such a long absence, which began last March when Connecticut officials placed the state in
lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
To be expected, there were some setbacks. Shelton had two positive cases of COVID-19 in the elementary school within the first week. “The great thing is our operations plan worked extremely well. There was great teamwork among the members of the operations plan who had to carry out the notifications and contact tracing. We are seeing good compliance with our mitigation strategies,” Smith said.
“As usual there were transportation issues. Every year there’s transportation issues, COVID-19 or not,” Smith said. Of those students attending in person, 891 opted out of bus transportation. That created a bit of an issue with a larger number of parents dropping off and picking up students but members of school security and the police department helped with traffic flow and school officials tweaked the drop-off plan.
Overall, Smith reported, “We had a great week. Teachers and students were exhausted. They weren’t used to the schedule. But you can actually see young children excited and parents excited to have their children back in school. It was great to hear the excitement in the hallways,” Smith said.
The biggest challenge, by far, was resisting the urge to offer hugs and high fives as socially distancing mandates remain in place for safety reasons. Even with posted reminders in hallways and classrooms, Smith said, “It was hard for all of our students, from pre-K through grade 12, not to hug people. It was really hard not to hug each other, not to hug the teachers, not to hug the school administrators, for some of them not to hug me.”
People love and need physical contact, Smith said. “Don’t forget, some people haven’t been out of their houses since March,” she said. To mitigate the loss of the hug, Smith said they offer each other air high fives, elbow bumps and tapping feet.
There were other out of the ordinary things that occurred because of the unusual circumstances this year. In Ridgefield, Da Silva said students on school buses were joined by mystery riders. “There was an administrator who just randomly got on school buses to surprise kids,” she said. And there were lots of Zoom gatherings ahead of time to introduce students to their classrooms and teachers to give them an idea of what to expect since they didn’t have a chance for the traditional “meet the teacher” gatherings beforehand.
The Shelton school system is offering free breakfast and lunch to all the students at school if they are in the building, and those who are distance learning can pick up meals at the high school.
No one’s promising an easy year. There will likely be disruptions and perhaps a return to remote learning, for days or weeks at a time depending on coronavirus infection rate numbers. However, it’s safe to say the sound of the school bell has never been more welcomed or sounded as sweet.