Editor’s note: The Democrat visits an elementary school each year to capture the first day of school. This year, it was Van Buren Elementary’s turn.
STONE HEAD — “I can tell you’re smiling under your mask,” Van Buren Elementary School Principal Gavin Steele told Addison and Grant Rickard this morning.
“My new thing is to smile with your eyes.”
Grant and Addison were some of the first students to arrive at Van Buren Elementary this morning for the first day of the 2020-2021 school year.
Mom Crystal also took a moment to get the traditional photo of the two in front of the school — this time, with masks.
Almost every student had a mask on as they arrived this morning. The few who did not were immediately given one by a VBE staff member before entering the school. Staff members also gave each student hand sanitizer before they went inside.
Preschool students also had their temperatures checked as mandated by the state. Older students’ parents were supposed to do that before they left home.
As kids exited school buses and parents continued to drop their children off with bags of supplies in hand, a large speaker played Kidz Bop hits.
The excitement of staff members was obvious — even with masks on — to see the students they hadn’t seen since March 13 when the school year abruptly turned into an eLearning experience due to the coronavirus.
Steele had sent a message to parents asking them to observe staggered drop-off times to help with traffic on State Road 135 South, which usually gets backed up with buses and parent vehicles. That backup didn’t happen this morning.
“It really helped this morning, getting the flow going,” he said.
The elementary school’s new bus parking lot is expected to be done tomorrow, leaving the front of the building as the parent drop-off lane, Steele said.
The district has offered families two options to start the school year as the pandemic continues: in person or online.
The school year is starting in the “green zone,” or on Plan A, where there is low to no spread of symptoms in a school building and the schools are operating on a regular schedule in person. If virus symptoms start to spread past a certain percentage, students will be moved to an every-other-day schedule alternating in-person and at-home learning (“yellow” status/Plan B), or go all-remote (“red” status/Plan C).
Teachers are able to require masks in their classrooms if they are more comfortable that way, similar to cellphone policies which vary per classroom. Students are allowed five-minute “mask breaks” at the instructor’s discretion.
