THE PERFECT PANDEMIC SCHOOL (Has Not happened)

Carol stepped gingerly out of her four-year-old white Rav carrying three notebooks, name tags for every student, some cut outs she forgot yesterday when she was in her classroom for the fifth day, and her brightly colored artwork for civics.

Sarah White, the principal of the 500-student elementary school, was standing out in front of the school greeting everyone with a forehead thermometer and a big smile, which was colorfully displayed on the front of her mask. Sarah was accompanied by Ms. Yates, the school’s board member who had planned to spend the entire first week at Carol’s school.

You see, in this district, every school had either an administrator or a board member staying all day every day at their school for the first week, working in classrooms helping teachers. They had all pledged to go only to classrooms and never to the office. Teachers needed them and they were there.

Each kid had a signed note from home swearing that everyone at home was healthy, before they went directly to their classroom. They were required to have these notes every day.

The kids walked down the halls which were lined with adults, wearing masks and standing apart to greet the kids, help them find their classrooms, make sure they had their masks covering their noses, and were not touching each other. Some of these adults had volunteered to monitor the halls every day.

After saying “Hi” to everyone Carol walked into her classroom and she once again whispered “Thanks” to the district that had hired enough custodians who followed all the CDC recommendations. It smelled so clean. All the windows were open. Her room had been sanitized completely, as it would be every day by one of the seven custodians assigned to the school.

Carol went to her gigantic computer screen and turned it on so she could greet half her class who would be on zoom today.

The carpets were clean because they were vacuumed and cleaned every day, and she knew that because she had been working in her classroom for the last five days. In those five days a trustee or administrator had been there to help if she needed it. It turned out to be fun to have someone helping and they laughed more than you would expect with those pesky masks on.

Carol made a note on the pad on her desk to stop by the drive-by “Doughnuts by Manny” and get John and the administrator a dozen of those doughnuts.

It was five minutes to the beginning of class and Carol was almost finished organizing the extra masks, gloves, boxes of wipes and Kleenex all of which had been supplied by the district.

There were 30 students in Carol’s class. Fifteen students came to class in the morning and 15 kids came to class in the afternoon. The district had decided that there should be an hour in between for teachers to eat lunch and prep for the next class. Between classes the custodians completely sanitized the classroom. Carol often thought that the custodians were the heroes. Solution? More doughnuts.

Wednesday was not a holiday for the students, at least not all day. Wednesday was the day that they were all online for an hour of PE which included physical activity and studying. It was also a day when students could talk online to one of the three counselors. Every student was required to check in once every month and others could make appointments on Wednesdays or after school. In an emergency, counselors were always available.

One minute to go before the kids came through the door, and Carol was ready to start her year, feeling safe, listened to, supported and ready to start her year.

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