Guerneville School District welcomed students in transitional kindergarten through second grade back onto the Guerneville Elementary School campus for a 9 a.m. start time on Monday, March 29, with special drop-off protocols in place to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teachers and instructional aides checked children’s temperatures through car windows and went over a symptom survey before students could step onto school grounds. Principal Joelene Morasch said this would be the second round of temperature and symptom checks each morning, with the first round occurring before leaving home for school.
“It’s so exciting to see their little faces, especially the TK-2 kids. It’s been a very long year, a very long year. For some of our kids, this is their first opportunity to actually step foot on the campus and be at school. I mean, we haven’t been at school for over a year. And it’s just been amazing,” Morasch said.
The principal said she was eager to bring back older grades to the school that teaches up to eighth grade in the weeks to come. One parent said their second-grade daughter told them heading back to class felt like her birthday, according to Morasch.
“I’m sure some of them are nervous, but I think it’s going to be a great day. We have small groups so that makes it nice for the adjustment,” she said.
Morasch said students would attend class in-person from 9 a.m. until noon to get in the swing of being at school, social distancing, wearing masks and other protocols before school begins to run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. next week.
Although teachers worked hard to ensure social and emotional learning during distance learning, Morasch said it is difficult for children to learn school routines, small motor skills and socialization without being together.
“It’s how do we take turns, how do we sit in a classroom. There’s a whole lot of other outside-of-textbook learning that happens in those younger grades. Not just in the younger grades, but in all the grades. Problem-solving and all that kind of stuff,” she said.
The drop off areas decorated with balloons had signs designating zones for each grade group to guide families driving through. Large letters spelling out “Welcome Back” greeted children near the kindergarten drop off area. Members of Sonoma County Fire District attended with an engine.
