GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Summer vacation has flown by and Green Bay children are headed back to the classroom on Wednesday.
For most Green Bay Area Public Schools (GBAPS), the new school year will begin on September 1.
“I tell people the best part of my job is that all of us remember first days of school, and that excitement of getting ready for the first day, and we as staff here, we get to live that every year with our kids because we see that excitement as they come in and it’s exciting and it’s so awesome we can be a part of that every year,” said Chappell Elementary Principal Kristen Worden.
For students in grades 7-8 and 10-12 at Edison, Franklin, Lombardi, Washington, East, Preble, Southwest, and West, school will begin on Thursday, September 2.
This is to allow for the 6th and 9th grade orientations (Middle School Matters and Freshman Forward) to occur on September 1.
As families prepare for the first day, Principal Worden is weighing in on things parents should know.
She explains not much is going to change compared to how things looked like last spring when children first returned to in-person learning.
“Most things are going to stay the same in our building,” Worden said. “The things that will be a little different, is still we’re going to be masked, we will be following all the safety protocols and so those things will be a little bit different, when they’re outside they’re not needing to be masked. But we did that last spring and the kids did amazing with it, so I really don’t feel there’s much different for our kids than what we are doing. They’re hand sanitizing, all of those things will remain.”
Worden believes protocols will continue to remain as smooth as possible. She said last year kids did so great and it wasn’t much of a concern.
“Our 4-year-olds were able to continue to mask. Sometimes the masks don’t fit great and we just give a little reminder to cover their nose. Other than that kids were great, kids understand that they need to help everybody else stay safe,” Worden said.
Worden speaks on visitor guideline changes for the upcoming school year.
"Unfortunately, right now parent visitors aren’t going to be allowed just so we can maintain the safety within our building. However, if we have visitors that are integral to our learning we will be allowing those following appropriate safety protocols such as filling out the screeners, wearing their masks, staying the distance that they need to away. We have a lot of guest speakers so we utilize the acute immunity in a lot of different ways,” Worden said.
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Ahead of the first day, Chappell Elementary had an open house on Monday as a head start in welcoming families back.
“We were able to allow parents to drop off school supplies with their kids and to meet their teachers. We had a line of parents waiting and it was great, they felt good. Everyone followed all COVID protocols, they were all troopers. We all want to be here and we are all willing to do what we need to do to stay in session,” Worden said.
She reassured families they will be doing all they can to make sure their children continue to stay safe. She also shared the importance of in-person learning.
“It’s the connection, it's those relationships that we build with kids. We build a community and we build the social skills that we want kids to go out into our community with. And we can do that so much better in person I think my staff and all teachers did an amazing job last year given the virtual environment, however, we can do even more when we have them in our building and are able to provide all the extra love and care on a daily basis,” Worden said.
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If children are feeling nervous before the first day of classes, the principal at Chappell Elementary school says that's totally normal.
She suggests parents should communicate with teachers to help ease the transition.
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Have questions regarding transportation for your children? See below:
For more information about when your child needs to quarantine or isolate this school year, GBAPS is asking parents to please review the below chart which identifies several scenarios and the required response, depending on whether or not your child is vaccinated or symptomatic.
For two Green Bay sisters, they share with us what they're most excited about ahead of the new school year.
"Meeting new friends and having fun with my friends," said Quinn Shefchik who will be entering second grade.
"I'm looking forward to having a new locker and seeing all the new teachers," said Ayra Shefchik who will enter sixth grade.
