‘The happiest place on Earth’: Boise students return to school, in person and masked
Wearing a large, white Mickey Mouse glove and accompanying ears, Principal Cher Situm excitedly welcomed elementary school students into their classrooms Monday on their first day back at school.
“A lot of children connect with Disneyland as the happiest place on Earth,” said Situm, the principal at Morley Nelson Elementary School in the Boise School District. “And we really want our school to make them feel that way and to welcome them in that manner. … So that’s our theme for today, is the happiest place on Earth at Morley Nelson.”
Thousands of students in the Boise School District returned to their classrooms Monday, in person and with masks, to start off the 2021-2022 school year. Dan Hollar, public affairs administrator for the district, said the first day went well across the district.
“I think our families were just happy to be back,” he told the Idaho Statesman. “And from what we saw, they were following all of the mitigation protocols … We’re so thankful to have our staff and our students and our families back with us and a sense of normalcy that we have when we’re all together, learning in person.”
The start of the school year came less than two weeks after the district’s board approved a plan requiring that students and staff wear masks indoors, a departure from the plan that was passed just weeks earlier that made masks optional. The new plan brought protests from some parents.
Most other school districts in the state haven’t followed, making Boise one of the few that is requiring masks as students go back.
Last year, schools in Idaho and across the country faced numerous interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to navigate changing learning models, from remote to hybrid to in person, as officials made difficult decisions on how to keep students and staff safe. This year, schools are facing the threat of the more transmissible delta variant, coupled with surging COVID-19 cases in Idaho. Children 12-18 also have the lowest vaccination rates in the state, and a vaccine isn’t yet approved for those younger than 12.
It’s a situation teachers and families were hoping to leave in the past.
But the Boise School District is optimistic that, with the safety protocols in place, schools can prevent coronavirus outbreaks and keep students in school all year.
“We’re practicing washing, social distancing and cleansing measures throughout the campus before, during and after school, and just keeping students distanced in the classroom, as well as when they’re having lunch,” Situm said. “We just want everyone healthy and safe.”
At Morley Nelson Elementary, kids arrived to the building prepared, with their masks, backpacks and school supplies.
In the morning, teachers ensured that their students had their masks on correctly, reminded them of the COVID-19 protocols and helped to make sure they were all distanced.
Leading a class down the hallway, one teacher reminded her students to use their “zombie arms,” telling them to put their hands in front of them when they were walking in line to make sure they had enough space between themselves and their classmates.
Students said that they were happy to be back in person and that, for the most part, the masks didn’t bother them. They wanted to make sure they kept themselves and their communities safe.
Zoey Haneke, who is starting fourth grade, understands the importance of masks. Her mom is immunocompromised, and masks help to make sure “no one gets any bad hazards that can really harm them,” she said.
She, like her classmates, was ready to be back in the classroom with her friends after the challenges of last year.
“It was a bit hard,” she said about the past year, “but we got through it.”
Teachers, too, were looking forward to starting off the year seeing their students in person, instead of having to form those relationships through the screen.
“I didn’t really feel like I truly knew my students until we were back here in the building,” said Daniel Coneff, a teacher at the school. “When we’re in our homes, we have so many other distracting factors. … Kids are sitting in a room with all their toys sitting around them. And we’re expecting them to sit down and learn math and learn how to read better. And that’s really, really unfair expectations to set upon students.”
Last year, he said, he didn’t feel like he could educate his students to his fullest abilities while they were learning remotely. So this year, he’s planning to hit the ground running. He wants to find out whether children experienced any gaps in their learning and how he can help fill those.
“I’m confident that we can make up some of it,” he said. “It probably won’t be done fully in one year, but over time, we will get there.”
It’s a concern among many teachers — how do they get kids back up to speed after what was lost over the past year?
Stacy Coltrin, who works with students learning English at the elementary school, said having them in class is a far better environment for them to be able to learn.
“They’ve been under, I think, a great deal of stress, actually, they’re coming to a new country and learning a new language, and that’s always stressful anyway,” she said. “And then to have been online last year was stressful as well.”
This year, the emphasis is going to be oral language and making sure students don’t fall behind their peers, she said. The best way for kids to learn a new language is to be immersed in the culture, according to Coltrin.
“At home, they were just with their siblings, so they weren’t picking up that great social language that they need to be able to communicate first,” she said, “before we start working on the reading, and the writing, and those things.”
Overall, students, teachers and staff are optimistic heading into the new school year.
“I’m so excited to see all of our children, to hear their voices, to see their smiling eyes, to help support my teachers,” Situm said. “… We’re super excited about being back in our buildings and starting day one of our school year together.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 4:37 PM.
