Anxiety swept over Tameka Ragland the other day when she let her teenage daughter visit the mall for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic changed social habits.
“I felt I was letting her back out into the world,” the Highland mother said.
A similar feeling awaits Ragland Monday, Aug. 2, when her 15-year-old begins her sophomore year of high school in San Bernardino.
“I’ll be very honest,” she said, “my daughter is an only child, so releasing her out into the big wide world is kind of scary for me. As much as I wanted her to have a great introductory high school experience, this last year allowed me to guide her into high school. …
“But I think it’s necessary for kids to go back,” Ragland said. “It’s an accomplishment for her to be in high school and survive the pandemic. I’m very excited for her.”
Some school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will resume in-person instruction in August for the first time in a year and a half. Schools closed March 13, 2020, and students went home to quarantine and later transition to distance learning. While some districts elected to return to campuses late in the 2020-21 school year with safety measures in place, others opted to stay virtual for the entire school year.
Over the summer, in anticipation of a landmark first day, school districts in Moreno Valley, Rialto and San Bernardino overhauled dozens of elementary, middle and high school campuses to provide safe environments for returning students, teachers, administrators and staff.
When the school year begins, all students and teachers will wear masks indoors, per state guidelines.
“As a caring community of educators,” Rialto Unified Superintendent Cuauhtémoc Avila said, “our district is ready to welcome our resilient students to safe and engaging learning environments.”
Beyond physical and aesthetic improvements, Inland school districts have gone to great lengths to help campus leaders identify and address behavioral or learning issues that arise with students making their return to the classroom after an unprecedented school year.
“There’s a part of me that’s excited and definitely happy to be back on campus for my final year,” said Aashish Palikhey, a senior-to-be at Vista Del Lago High School in Moreno Valley. “But there’s also a lot of uncertainty. How will people interact with each other after being apart for so long? What will the environment be?
“I’m hopeful, with things getting back to some kind of normal. I feel it’s going to be a great year.”
Easing back
While most students in San Bernardino and Moreno Valley will set foot on campus for the first time since March 2020, thousands of parents enrolled their children in summer school to recalibrate after more than a year away.
All 40 Moreno Valley Unified campuses offered a summer program, Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora said, drawing about 9,000 kids, or one-third of the district’s student population.
“We’ve never had that big of a summer program before,” Kedziora said.
San Bernardino City Unified also offered an expansive summer program.
Jessica Ragland, an eighth-grader the last time she was in a classroom, went to Middle College High in San Bernardino five days a week this summer, and after spending her freshman year learning from home, said she found it easier to pay attention, participate in discussions and interact with teachers in person.
“It was way easier to understand the material, too,” she said.
Small class sizes in the summer provided Moreno Valley students an intimate setting to reacclimate with the classroom environment and reconnect with teachers, administrators, counselors and principals, Kedziora said.
Over the next several days, Moreno Valley Unified has a handful of social events planned for families to connect with one another and with district representatives ahead of the first day of school.
With a similar goal in mind, San Bernardino City Unified held a Back-to-School Extravaganza last week at San Manuel Stadium.
“We’re doing a lot to encourage and develop interest in returning, to show we care about people and to make sure we’re present and available to answer questions and support people,” Kedziora said. “These big initiatives, we hope, help students and parents feel comfortable coming back to campus.”
Important first weeks
As students return to once-familiar – or, in the case of incoming kindergarteners and first-graders, brand new – classroom settings, San Bernardino educators will focus on social and emotional learning during the first few weeks of the new school year, said Rachel Monárrez, the district’s deputy superintendent.
This fall, teachers are encouraged to check in on students as they adjust to being around others again. Classroom exercises such as community circles and group activities should help reestablish camaraderie and comfort among classmates, Monárrez said.
“We also have support for our teachers and all of our staff to make sure they’re in a good place, because they have their own families and their own challenges,” Monárrez added. “We’re all coming out of a very different time in society, in life, and we’re thinking about that.”
Across the region, myriad mental health and wellness services will be available to new and returning students.
Every Rialto Unified school site, for example, will implement a Social Emotional Learning program to support students as they return to social settings, Avila said. Furthermore, trainings on restorative- and trauma-informed practices are available for staff to provide children and families the socio-emotional support they need.
The district’s “Culture of Welcome,” Avila said, will offer students and campus staff a healthy and supportive environment.
Elsewhere, Moreno Valley Unified added dozens of new counselors over the summer, so every elementary school has one, every middle school has three and every high school has seven, Kedziora said. Additionally, the district will have two full-time social workers to address family concerns and social issues within the community.
San Bernardino school staffers have been trained on youth mental first aid, Monárrez said, which should help them identify behavior in students that indicate potential mental health needs.
An internal district team is available to provide deeper mental health therapy.
“The better the adults are,” Monárrez said, “then they can serve the children at an even higher level than what we already do.”
First day festivities
Traditionally, Moreno Valley educators and administrators dress up as superheroes and visit campuses on the first day of school.
Kedziora, in his fifth year as superintendent, plans to don Captain America garb when students return Aug. 11.
Festive and welcoming environments await new and returning students across the region, and parents have been encouraged to take as long as they need to make sure their children feel comfortable in them, Kedziora said.
The superintendent anticipates more parents walking children to class than in previous years.
“It’s going to take time and energy and thoughtfulness and caring,” Kedziora said, “because different people feel differently depending on the news that day or whatever is happening in the world at that time.”
San Bernardino City Unified welcomes students back Monday, Aug. 2, a day long circled on the academic calendar.
“We’ve spent, truly, a year and a half getting ready for this day,” Monárrez said. “We’re very confident, not that things will go perfectly, that’s not possible, but that we will be ready to welcome our scholars back with open arms.
“Our staff is ready and we will make those necessary adjustment along the way so they and our scholars are safe and they’re learning.”
