The first day of a new school year is usually fraught with nerves for parents, students and teachers, but this year has brought its fair share of uncertainty as youths return to school for the first time since March.
The usual sound of children frolicking on the playground before the beginning of classes was absent from William Grayson Elementary School on Sept. 8, as mask-wearing students and parents slowly trickled into the yard and toward the building while the principal and vice-principal welcomed back students and directed them to different doors.
After watching her son walk into the school, mother Alissa Nanowski explained there was excitement and nervousness in her household for this day. Her son was excited to return to school to hang out with his friends, meet his new Grade 1 teacher, and learn new topics. She, conversely, was a little nervous.
“… but I also want to be confident in our school and in our teachers, that they’re doing the best they can because this is new for everybody,” she laughed. “We’ll all be as safe as we can be.”
Nanowski has read the back-to-school plan that Prairie South School Division created, noting with a chuckle that she read it every time the division updated the document.
“It does look OK. I think things may end up changing, that we (might) have to be adaptable,” she said, adding some parents might still decide to home-school their children.
With a laugh, Nanowski said she would miss having her son home during the day. She and her husband had considered home-schooling their son — they relied upon the work sent home from school during the spring — but she pointed out she’s not a teacher, while her child needs the social interaction with others to grow.
The first day was nerve-wracking for mother Danielle Swain, whose daughter was also going into Grade 1. The Moose Jaw mom was confident that school administrators had developed a suitable return plan — even if she couldn’t see it in action — but didn’t know how students would physically distance inside the building.
She knew that the plan was to keep students in cohorts, so she was confident her daughter would be fine as long as she didn’t wander the halls.
Although Swain was slightly nervous, her daughter was excited to get back to school even if she didn’t understand why there was so much hullabaloo. She only knew that she had to wear a mask.
“And we’ve been practising leading up to this, so yeah, it’s kind of a weird norm now,” laughed Swain.
Principal Robin Heshka was eager for the start of the new year, saying while there are nerves every year, the staff has come together and taken on new responsibilities to meet the new challenges.
“It’s been amazing. They all just joined together, became united and (we’re) doing what we need to do,” she said while excitedly welcoming students by name as they streamed into the school.
Heshka talked about some of the changes the school has made, including how students who arrive after 8:40 a.m. will trickle into the building, sanitize their hands and then have someone direct them to their classroom. The children will have to follow “the highway” — lines taped on the floor that ensure students stay on the right side of the hallway.
“Honestly, none of it is for the bad … ,” she said. “There is good that will come out of this, for sure.”
Every classroom at William Grayson had its own first-day celebration since a school-wide assembly was not permitted, Heshka added. She then spent the morning visiting each class and saying hello since she couldn’t do it in one large group.
