Sheldon, Iowa — Tuesday afternoon marked the end of the first week of the 2020-2021 school year for students, teachers and staff of the Sheldon Community School District and Superintendent Cory Myer says faculty and staff tried to make the return to school as normal as possible, under the circumstances.
(As above) “We really tried to make things as normal as we could and welcome back everybody with a welcoming and inviting environment. Obviously it’s a unique situation as we deal with COVID this year. That has made things a little more challenging in that regard, in some regards. But we were certainly excited to get kids back and it was just a tremendous amount of energy and excitement in our buildings.”
Myer says masks are required on all the District’s buses, but are optional in class. He says the first day a good percentage of students and teachers were wearing masks.
(As above) “I would say, initially on Day #1 we had a really high percentage of kids wearing masks in our elementary…I don’t have any formal numbers on that, but I would say that about 80% of our students came in wearing masks in the elementary on Day #1. The percentage was smaller at the middle school and then smaller yet at the high school. The majority of our staff were wearing masks, especially at the lower grade levels…almost all of our elementary and middle school staff and a pretty significant portion of our high school staff, as well. But as time goes on, I think we’re probably seeing, just in a week’s time, maybe a fewer masks than we’ve seen initially. We are requiring masks on buses, so all of our kids and bus drivers are wearing masks there…and in food services, as well. But overall I’d say those numbers are dropping just a little bit as far as people wearing masks. We still want to highly recommend that students and staff wear a mask for their own protection as well as the protection of others that they’re coming in contact with.”
Myer says it’s exciting to get the new school year started and get everyone returned to something resembling “normal.”
(As above) “It really is! Actually, I was going around this morning and visiting with some of our elementary teachers and talking to them and they are just so excited to be back, and really happy about that. I went out for elementary recess, and I have to tell you, for anybody who wants to bring some joy to their life, there’s nothing quite like seeing the kids running around and enjoying recess. I think I’ll probably be smiling all day. It was a really positive feeling and experiencing that was just a wonderful thing for me, to feel that sense of normalcy.”
The 2020-2021 school year began Wednesday, August 12th.
