Here’s how Blue Valley teachers say they’ll make their classrooms safe
Hand sanitizer, masks, social distancing reminders, and little fanny packs to hold masks will greet students as they return to school Wednesday at Oak Hill Elementary in Overland Park in the Blue Valley School District.
Four kindergarten teachers, on hand for orientation, were at the school greeting nervous kindergartners whose families selected the hybrid in-person learning model for their students.
The Blue Valley School District plans to hold hybrid in-person classes for elementary school students beginning Wednesday despite a surge COVID-19 cases in Johnson County. Middle and high school students will begin the year remotely.
“I think everyone is excited to get back to learning no matter what way they chose for their family to learn,” said Megan Maresh, principal of Oak Hill Elementary School. She said the school will have about 350 hybrid, in-person students and 115 all-virtual students.
The hybrid model will have students in class two days per week, one day of a group Zoom class, and two days of virtual learning. The students will alternate days in school. Half of the students will go Monday and Tuesday. The other half will attend classes Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is class Zoom day for all of the students.
“I think we’re all excited to get going and see our new students.”
Kylie Washington, a kindergarten teacher at Oak Hill for the past five years, is excited to welcome students back to her classroom. “I think in the back of your mind, you’re a little bit nervous about the possibilities [of sickness], but that comes with every year and we’re just really excited to have the kids finally back in the classrooms and to get started with them,” Washington said..
During the kindergarten orientation, Washington said all the kids wore their masks and she felt the parents worked really hard to get their kids ready for school.
Beneath a large ‘Welcome’ sign in her classroom, Kristen Jones, also a kindergarten teacher, said students in grades kindergarten through second grade will be given small fanny packs to hold their masks during “mask breaks.” The school purchased the fanny packs in a variety of colors and the students will be able to store their masks during recess, lunch and mask breaks.
“We don’t have to worry about them [the masks] on the tables falling on the floor. We’re keeping them clean and with us,” Jones said. She said safety is a concern. She has two children at home.
Students in grades 3-5, will have breakaway lanyards that will hold their masks during mask breaks.
“I think with the safety measures we have in place, I feel more comfortable with that,” said Jones. “We’re all just doing the best we can.”
“My comfort level, this is where it is, in the classroom with the kids and our staff,” said Jones. “I think it’s going to be okay, we’re going to pull through.”
The four kindergarten teachers collaborated on an education plans which incorporated the online learning, as well as the in-person instruction. “Our team worked really well together to get everything put together for the parents to be able to access it,” said Washington. She said it was hard at first to get everything online, instead of having it on paper. “The switch made us get really organized and now we’re ready for the years to come.”
In a classroom that resembles a small broadcast studio, first-year teacher, Kellie Flick, the schools’ virtual education teacher for kindergarten, said she’s been wanting to be a teacher for as long as she can remember. “I’m really just excited to be here and to have this opportunity to finally teach my dream grade, which is kindergarten, which is just going to be in a different setting,” said Flick. She added that it’s going to be a really-challenging first year.
Flick will be teaching live sessions daily as well as adding activities and learning experiences for students to do online and offline at home with parents or others helping with the virtual learning. “Hopefully, when they come back in person, they won’t skip a beat,” Flick said.
“It’s been a challenge to adapt and a learning curve getting ready to go, but I think we are very well prepared,” said Ariel Puccetti, a kindergarten teacher in her seventh year at Oak Hill. “I feel really good about coming back.” She said she is excited to see the students return to hallways this week. “I think we’ve all really missed them.”
