On Monday, Oct. 5, classrooms in grades K-5 all over North Carolina were given permission to return to in-person classes for four days per week. So far, the new schedule is getting good grades from teachers and students.
It took almost two months for these classes to work their way down to one virtual day a week. While COVID cases have been identified at schools, including as recently as Monday, Oct. 12 at Mountain View Intermediate School and Nantahala School. Macon County Schools is maintaining strict prevention policies to protect the physical health of its community. As far as mental health goes, going back to school as much as possible seems to be the right call.
“The kids are so happy to be here, and we’re hearing the same thing from parents,” South Macon Elementary School first-grade teacher Crystal Teem said. “It feels great to have our halls and our classrooms full again.”
Teachers who have had to learn to teach a digital classroom on the fly this year are relieved to have their kids back together. Younger students tend to have the hardest time operating all of the different hardware and software involved in remote learning, which in turn makes communicating lessons harder in an online space. Sheena Hughes, a kindergarten teacher at Iotla Valley Elementary School, says she still has a few all-virtual students that she needs to teach, but getting most of her kids in the classroom Monday through Thursday makes a huge difference in how well they learn. After these first few chaotic weeks of the school year, she hopes that the amount of face-to-face instruction they get will only go up.
“If we could get them all together for five days a week again, I think we’d be able to settle into a routine that would benefit the kids,” Hughes said. “I was a little concerned about them at first, especially with the masks, but they’ve done a very good job keeping them on.”
Cindy Dryman, a fourth-grade teacher at South Macon Elementary School, feels that coming back four days a week is already having a great impact on the kids’ wellbeing. They’re able to socialize more and feel more at home when they’re at school. She expected setting ground rules for behavior in a full class would be tough this late in the period, but even on that front, the kids have been mature and helpful.
“I’ve been surprised that there haven’t been more behavior issues to work on,” Dryman said. “They understand that we’re doing our best with what we have and they’ve been cooperative through it all.”
Even at Mountain View Intermediate School, where fifth-graders are allowed to return for four days per week but sixth-graders aren’t, there haven’t been any major administrative headaches. Principal Nancy Breedlove said that classes were running smoothly during the first week despite some early concerns that it would be tough to adjust.
“First reactions were kind of freaking out like ‘oh my gosh, what are we going to do?’ but it’s actually going okay,” Breedlove said.
For the students, the first seven weeks of school presented a massive learning curve and a general lack of structure, with schedules and expectations taking new form every time a state guideline changed. However, the return to four days a week has provided hope for stability in the coming months. Second-grader Brynleigh Bishop said she’s missed doing school the normal way this fall and that the first week of the four-day approach was a welcome change of pace.
“I love it,” Bishop said. “We read a lot and we get to use the active board and we get to go to recess again.”