Students with the last names A-L in grades 1-8 and all students in grade 9 started Wednesday, students with last names M-Z in grades 1-8 and all students in grades 10-12 start Thursday, and all students in grades 1-12 that have not yet started begin Friday.
Elementary students at Simon Kenton entered the school Wednesday through the side entrance after their parents dropped them off. Once students were inside, they picked up their lunch before going to class.
Superintendent Bob Hill, who visited each school, and Simon Kenton Principal Allyson Thurman were there to greet the parents and students as they arrived, as well as teachers who helped direct them to their classes.
“It was wonderful to see our students and their interaction with teachers after such a long break. Everyone wore masks, practiced social distancing and had an all-around great day,” said Hill. “We are looking forward to seeing everyone with last names M-Z bright and early Thursday morning.”
Riley Snead, a junior Springfield High School, chose the district’s in-person learning option, but said she’s still concerned about what the year will be like.
“I feel worried about everything that is going to change. I’m worried all of the fun things that makes school enjoyable won’t be able to happen because of COVID,” said Snead. “My hopes are things get back to normal as soon as possible and we’re back to having a good time without all of the precautions.”
Both Southeastern and Tecumseh Local Schools also started school on Wednesday.
However, Southeastern canceled their first day of school because of the heat, said Superintendent David Shea.
Shea added that he felt it was going to be too hot as their buildings do not have air conditioning.
“I felt that it was going to be too hot to have the kids in the building,” he said.
Tecumseh opened as planned with remote learning for students. Remote learning will continue through at least the first quarter.
Teachers will interact, teach and meet with students in their virtual classrooms, said Superintendent Paula Crew.
Just like Southeastern, two other districts that started school this week was affected by the heat.
Both Northeastern Local Schools, who started on Tuesday, and Greenon Local Schools, who started on Monday, dismissed students a few hours early due to the excessive temperatures, according to posts made on the district’s Facebook pages.
Northeastern’s elementary schools dismissed at 1 p.m. and middle and high schools dismissed at 2:15 p.m.
Greenon’s Jr./Sr. High School dismissed at 12:10 p.m., Enon Primary at 1:15 p.m. and Indian Valley at 1:30 p.m. The district also dismissed students two hours early on Tuesday as well due to the heat.
Greenon’s post said the district, “will continue to monitor forecasted temperatures for the end of the week and encourage parents to plan for the possibility of early dismissals on Thursday and Friday.”
According to the National Weather Service, the heat index was expected to be between 95- and 100-degrees Wednesday afternoon, but temperatures were expected to drop into the upper 60s and lower 70s by the night.
Here is a list of schools that will begin over the next few weeks:
Springfield - Staggered start dates of Aug. 27 and 28
Urbana - Staggered start dates of Aug. 27, 28, 31 and Sept. 1
Global Impact STEM Academy - Aug. 31
Northwestern - Sept. 2
Clark-Shawnee - Staggered start dates of Sept. 8 and 10
The districts that have already started school include Triad on Aug. 20, Greenon and Mechanicsburg on Aug. 24, Northeastern on Aug. 25, Southeastern, Tecumseh and Springfield on Aug. 26.
