AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) — Students are excited and staff members say they're prepared. And after all this isn't the first time this school has taught through a pandemic.
"We've been through this before! So we were here during the Spanish flu, we were here during a measles outbreak. We're here now. We'll get through this just like we did everything else," said Lisa Conrad, Principal and Interim Head of School.
The school had 230 of it's 280 students opt for in-person learning and start their first day Thursday. The school's reopening plan lays out four main points to start the year off smoothly:
- Use of outdoor classrooms to allow for mask breaks
- Smaller class sizes
- Staff members will pay special attention to the emotional and social needs of students
- A "continuity of learning plan" to make sure both students learning in person and remotely can still collaborate as normally as possible
"It's not out of the ordinary for teachers to go outside here because we have 34 acres. we are setting up the outdoor space to look like a classroom, so long as it's not thunder and lightning and pouring rain," said Conrad.
Parents are applauding the school's work.
"A huge part of this success has been the transparency with the parents. No stone has been left un-turned," said Laura Wexler, mother of two high school students and a teacher herself.
Wexler said she feels 100% safe sending her students to class.
They're also celebrating history. It's their 100th year on their Amherst campus. Conrad says the first day of this celebratory year has been a success and she looks forward to the rest of the school year.
