Faculty members welcomed pupils and parents back to school Aug. 2 at W.S. Hornsby Elementary School’s first in-person open house since before the pandemic.
After grabbing a bite to eat with parents, children once again navigated the halls together and headed towards their new classrooms to meet their teachers.
Gregory Shields, principal of W.S. Hornsby Elementary School, said his staff and teachers are excited to welcome back families Aug. 4 for the school year. Richmond County elementary schools start Aug. 4. All other Richmond County schools begin Aug. 8.
Richmond County middle and high school open houses are set for Aug. 3.
“We are looking forward to great things. Most importantly, we are looking forward to having our students coming in and achieving excellence in academics,” said Shields.
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Richmond County parent, Clarice Maloney, said she was excited to find out about all the great things her kids will be doing this school year with the COVID-19 restrictions lifted.
“I know it’s going to be a great school year,” said Maloney, whose children are entering their first and second year at Richmond County.
She said she feels very secure in her children’s learning experience.
Shields said the school’s goal is to achieve excellence together and to focus more intently on reading and literacy skills this year.
“We are doing several initiatives for reading,” said Shields. Initiatives planned include a vending machine of books for students, a future career day, and 20 parents who are going to volunteer for 20 hours in the school.
To ensure student safety, Shields said all staff have taken active shooter training and have practiced safety protocols like past years. “Our students will have several opportunities to practice as well,” he said.
Maloney said she has no worries about her kids’ safety at school, as she believes safety and training starts at home.
“Even though my kids are only six and four, I try my best to keep them updated with what’s going on around us. So, if anything was to happen at school, my kids know to go to someone that they know,” she said. “That’s why they get acquainted with most of the staff at school so that they feel safe and know how to respond to try and take care of themselves.”
For parents who are worried about learning regression and loss of foundational skills, Shields said the school is implementing smaller class sizes and support teachers to ensure more attention and focus for individual students who might need more accommodations after the pandemic.
“After online learning, it can be a challenge for some students to come back full-time to a big classroom all at once,” he said. “So, we’re using an intervention program where students undergo a diagnostic test to see where they are, and based upon that we have teachers to serve them in smaller groups, which we believe will help them adjust.”
Shields said he wanted to give students a method to slowly transition back if they needed extra help to avoid overwhelming students at the beginning of the school year.
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He hopes the school’s open house has given parents a sense of security and confidence for the fast-approaching school year.
“I want them to feel the excitement as they come through,” he said. “I just want them to feel invited and invested in at the same time.”
Maloney said she always feels the staff’s welcome throughout the school year and is happy about her connection to the teachers and supporting personnel. “
The atmosphere here is amazing,” Maloney said. “You never see a sad face. The staff here is just amazing.”
To combat possible COVID-19 spikes, Shields said the school has a set protocol in place to help those switch to sudden online or at-home learning to prevent an outbreak.
With the exception of John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, Freedom Park K-8 School, and C.T. Walker Magnet School, all Richmond County schools are still providing free school lunches to students for the first 30 days of school.
Afterwards, the school system will return to the Community Eligibility Program and federal school lunch program funding will return to pre-pandemic guidelines. At the open house, parents were encouraged to apply in-person or online for free or reduced lunches following those first 30 days.
To prepare her kids for school, Maloney said a positive experience with school begins at home. “It starts at home. You can’t really expect the teachers to be doing something that you’re not doing at home,” she said. Maloney believes parents have to be actively involved to avoid kids being deterred at school and help teachers educate children with the learning process.
“This year looks like, to me, how it looked when I was in elementary school. Just very family-oriented and everyone is coming in and they’re excited about being here. So that traditional feeling of school, that’s what it feels like,” said Shields.
Liz Wright is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
