The school bus had only two kids on it. This was not a normal school year, writes Maria Panaritis for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
School Bus No. 17 sat outside Swarthmore-Rutledge Elementary School Monday with its two passengers. Normally, it would be packed with kids.
For the first time since March, Wallingford-Swarthmore School District was allowing kids back in the classroom. The district, and a few others, is trying partial-week in-class instruction.
Normally crowded school districts now have to settle for less than half capacity, with two-day-a-week in-person instruction, or risk spreading the virus.
But after six months of closed schools , even the sound of a few children was amazing.
“They launched like a rocket!” I heard a teacher say outside the school.
Eight masked first-graders sat on the grass with a teacher reading The Awful Aardvarks Go to School.
“Welcome Back” was printed on a nearby Mylar balloon.
“Now listen carefully, my first graders,” the teacher continued. “We’re going to go back into the classroom. We’re going to wash our hands, and then it’s time for a snack.”
The children marched past, staying six feet apart.
Read more about the sights and sounds of children back in school here.
You Might Also Like
Keeping Students/Drivers Safe From Coronavirus on a School Bus. One of Many Reopening Worries
Delaware County Students Want to Know Why No One’s Asking Them About Reopening Schools
