Today is the first day of school at Crookston Public Schools for grades K-12. Kindergarten through sixth-grade is all in-person learning, while seventh through twelfth-grade is using a hybrid model. Preschool will begin next week.
Senior Emma Boll said it was exciting to start the year and see friends again, but it’s a little weird with half the senior class at home the first day. “I’m very excited to start school and see my friends,” said Boll. “But, I’m a senior, so it’s a little weird to be split up. And I don’t know how I feel about this year because we don’t know what’s going to happen. But for now, I guess we just have to make the best of what we have and go through every day like we normally would.”
Students had their temperatures scanned as they got on the school bus Tuesday morning or as they arrived at school. Boll said she’s glad the school is taking precautions but still wonders what will happen if someone’s got a cold. “I’m glad they’re taking safety precautions like that,” said Boll. “But what if someone has a cold? Are they going to send them home with a cold or test them for COVID? I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Junior Cade DeLeon said it was nice to be back even if it’s not what he’d call the ideal for high school. “It’s not ideal, but you have to do what you have to do,” said Deleon. “It’s nice to see faces again. It feels different, but at least we’re back in school seeing people even though we have to social distance.”
High School Math Teacher Steven Kofoed said the students were good before school following the required mask and social distancing guidelines while hoping technology will work until all of the upper grades can hopefully return to in-person learning every day. “The kids have been pretty good with the first half an hour they were here beforehand,” said Kofoed. “Keeping their masks on, and distance, and doing the things we’re going to ask them to do. It’s going to be kind of flexibility and roll with the punches as we attempt to zoom five kids in my first class. Hopefully, they have it all figured out first hour, so when they get to me second hour, we’re good to go. That’s going to be those first few weeks for sure. What works one day might not work the next. Technology, hopefully, is going to be on our side and make everything go as smoothly as we can. We’re definitely happy to have kids back in the building, see some faces and have them show up saying we’re super happy to be here. Or at the same time, we’re not really happy to be here, but at the same time, there is a smile behind that mask saying I’m happy to be here, but god, I wish I was still sleeping.”
Ryan Clauson, a sixth-grader at Highland School, said he and his classmates would have to go with the flow through some changes this year but thought it would be fun. “It’s going to be different, but it’s going to be a lot of fun, I think,” said Clauson. “We’ll just have to go with the flow with different things that are going on, different plans, and stuff like that.”
Not all changes are necessarily bad, as Clauson said he thought they might get more recess time this year. “We might get a little bit more recess time because they want kids outside a little bit more,” said Clauson. “So, I think we’ll be outside a little bit more.”
Indian Education Coordinator Dave Emanuel said there was a good plan in place, and the staff was excited to have school back in session. “We’ve got some changes being implemented,” said Emanuel. “We have a lot of staff out here making sure kids are getting out of the cars and off the buses safe. Principal Trostad did a great job. We had a good plan in place, and all the staff were made aware of it, and as you can see, it’s running pretty smooth so far. We’re ready, excited, and let’s go.”
Highland School Principal Chris Trostad said it was great to have the kids back in school, but there will still be a couple of kinks to work for the second day. “It’s great to have the kids back in school,” said Trostad. “The first day is a little bit different than most. I think tomorrow we’ll work out a couple of kinks. We kind of had a couple of kinks we had to straighten out, but kids are back in, and things seem to be running pretty smooth. We’re training the little kids in the lunchroom and things like that. Hopefully, we can make the end of the day as smooth as possible. Day two is always much smoother than day one. We work out our kinks, and the parents figure out some of the changes.”
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