After months of planning and anticipation, Salida School District had its first day of 2020 school year on Wednesday, reopening for the school year in the”Green” mode, in-person.
Salida High School. image courtesy of Heart of the Rockies Radio
In an email to parents, Superintendent David Blackburn noted that the first day of school went extremely well. He went on to say that most of the planned protocols worked efficiently. Blackburn said he walked the facilities and looked in on every classroom within the district to identify potential areas of improvement.
Some minor modifications still need to be made. For example, the team is currently working out how to improve the flow of lunch in the elementary school to allow more time for the kids to eat.
Blackburn also noted that the high school was able to tweak the flow of traffic that occurred early in the day as students tried to navigate through the hall while maintaining social distancing measures.
Kesner Building, Salida School District (Photo by Taylor Sumners)
“The observation that encouraged me the most was that none of the buildings or classrooms felt like an institution,” said Blackburn. “I don’t know how else to say it, it looked like school. There was laughter and life in the buildings again. Our many precautions didn’t kill the magic.”
The school district is still working through some scheduling issues for students. The high school is running into issues with class sizes close to limits and is doing the best they can to accommodate everyone’s needs.
Blackburn went on to say, “Please continue to be patient with us and flexible as we simply cannot accommodate everyone at the same levels we have in the past. Thank you for raising your children to be the amazing individuals that they are, and for instilling in them this idea of being adaptable. Your children were able to navigate today with incredible grace and strength. That speaks highly of your parenting.”
For more information visit the Salida School District’s new COVID-19 website here.
“Thank you for raising your children to be the amazing individuals that they are,…” I second that! We’ve remarked on several occasions about how the kids in the county really are “good kids”. Y’all should be very proud!