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“We are just delighted to see our families and parents,” said Beverly Moody, director of the WLA. “It’s so nice to let the parents be able to enter the building. She said about 20% of her students were virtual last year. This year, most of them are attending classes in person, about 650 of them.
At the start of the first day, some children seemed nervous, clinging to a parent’s hand. Some parents have expressed concern about the safety of their children in schools where masks are optional, as local cases of COVID-19 have again increased in the local hospital.
“It’s stressful because this virus is not under control, and we just don’t know what to expect,” said Janet Penaloza, mother of kindergarten and fourth grade, whose oldest child. is in remission from cancer and whose “system is not quite there yet. She said she” definitely “preferred that the district require masks” for her safety (of her daughter) and for others children who are in the same situation “.
“It was a little stressful,” she said with a nervous laugh, but added that the cleaning and disinfection measures made her “feel a little better.”
The district is not requiring masks this year, although it has taken a “rigid flexibility” stance, as Superintendent Will Schofield put it, and could change course if coronavirus cases continue to rise. Schofield cited student mental health as a reason for keeping masks optional.
“I’m so thankful that our school board and the superintendent are ready to make sure the kids go to school,†Moody said. “Now we can devote a little more of our time to what it would normally be, teaching and these conversations with teachers. “
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