A rainy first day, but many Wake students are thrilled to fill year-round schools again

Though first-grader Avery Zinkow has been a student at Salem Elementary School for a year, Thursday morning was the first time she entered her school building as a student.

Avery was one of more than 30,000 students who returned to school Thursday as 35 year-round Wake County public schools opened their doors to the largest number of students attending in-person classes since before the pandemic.

By the time all schools are in session in late August, about 94% students will be attending school in person — a far higher percentage than any time since March 2020.

The school district still has COVID-19 safety precautions in place, including enforcing a mask mandate for students while indoors.

The mask mandate has been a subject of recent debate, as some school boards have pushed to make masks optional. A bill that would lift Gov. Roy Cooper’s statewide school mask mandate — which passed in the House but has stalled in the Senate — is expected to come to a vote later this month.

Avery — who came to school with a matching backpack, lunchbox and water bottle — said she is most excited to see her friends and play on the playground. Gray skies and heavy rain didn’t stop more than 400 other students from joining her at Salem Elementary on Thursday morning, as children filtered into the school from school buses and parents’ cars.

For this first day of school, children sported masks and umbrellas in addition to backpacks and lunchboxes. Some parents hugged their children goodbye and helped with their masks outside of the school. Two girls who recognized one another squealed and hugged each other before making their way inside.

Kindergarten numbers ‘way up this year’

Final enrollment numbers for the Wake County School District as a whole are not yet available, but enrollment for this year has been increasing at Salem Elementary, said Derrick Evans, the school’s principal. Last year, traditional public school enrollment dropped, especially in kindergarten.

“Kindergarten numbers are way up this year,” Evans said. “Because of our extreme growth, we have hired somewhere in the range of 15 to 20 new teachers.”

At the height of the pandemic, around 85,500 students were enrolled in the Wake County Public School System’s Virtual Academy. Though the district starting re-introducing some in-person instruction last year, many families opted to remain remote. This year, only 10,000 of the district’s 160,000 students will be enrolled remotely.

Fifth-grader Jonathan Villafranco, who attended school in-person last year, said he’s excited to be back in the building with more of his friends and classmates.

Some parents said they initially felt hesitant to send their students back to in-person schools this year, given that vaccines are still not available to children under 12.

“We are a little bit nervous, but we’re weighing that against the fact that we want them to be able to socialize more with kids,” said Natalie Burns, whose two children attend Salem Elementary and Salem Middle School. “We’re hoping and praying that the vaccine comes for kids as quickly as possible.”

Lexi Schafran, a first-grade teacher at Salem Elementary, had drawers, organizers and supply bins set up throughout her classroom so that each student would have their own space. This is her second year teaching, and like some of her students, Thursday was her first “normal” first day of school.

Schafran said she is prepared to teach students who may have fallen behind during remote learning.

“We’ve emphasized giving students grace and being flexible,” she said. “We’re ready to work really closely with students who need to be caught up, and we’re ready to work one-on-one or in small groups to pull those friends up to where they need to be.”

A mostly in-person school year will require adjustment on the part of teachers, students, and administrators. Teachers and administrators have been training in both instruction and COVID safety protocols, Evans said.

‘Excited to go back’

Dori Hailu, another parent with children attending Salem Elementary and Salem Middle, said her kids enjoyed remote learning and initially hesitated to go back.

“A couple weeks ago, they were wanting to keep doing virtual, but now they’re excited to go back,” she said.

And some parents continue to worry about the safety of in-person instruction, especially without a mask mandate. “I think we would probably try to pull our kids if the mask mandate were taken away,” Burns said.

She said her son has asked for three haircuts in the months leading up to his first day of middle school, “wanting to try out his perfect hairstyle for school.”

Hailu said her daughter spent last night painstakingly laying out her backpack and school supplies.

And Schafran recalled the excitement of her students who were in the school building for the first time when they came in to meet her the day before school started.

“Just the excitement and smiles on their faces to be in a classroom for the first time, it was really special,” Schafran said. “They came in and looked around the room — it was bittersweet, but it was happy and joyful that they were in a classroom setting in person.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 2:39 PM.