In just under a week the empty hallways of Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School will be bustling yet again.
"We're all really excited about opening our doors to our community, to see our kids’ smiling faces walking down the hall," said Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School Principal Robert Pollock.
Pollock says hundreds of students will be returning to the classroom on Wednesday, for the first time since March 2020 for full-time, in-person instruction.
"It's been a very quiet year here at Juarez-Lincoln.”
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Schools in the district, including Juarez-Lincoln, offered in-person classes to a number of students in the spring. But space was limited and students were only allowed in the classroom for a few hours a week. Social distancing, plexiglass barriers, and masks were also enforced. This time around things will be a little different.
"The classrooms are going to look a lot like they did before we went out for the pandemic," Pollock said.
The school district will be following the state’s school mask mandate which means kids will be required to mask indoors but can remove the facial covering for lunch and recess or while outdoors. The plexiglass barriers have been removed from desks and social distancing will no longer be enforced.
Still, principal Pollock says, parents, can be assured their kids will be safe.
"We’re doing everything that we can in order to ensure that our kids are safe when they come back to school. Safe physically so that they don't get COVID but we're also doing everything that we can to make sure we are addressing the mental health of our students as well," said Pollock.
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The district will keep air filtration devices in each classroom and continue educating students on the importance of good hygiene.
Hoping to safely return students to the classroom with a new sense of normalcy.
