Science students and elementary pupils go back to Hazleton Area schools

Apr. 14—FREELAND — Natasha Young said her son Bennett did OK while studying from home, but he wanted to see his first grade classmates.

"He was missing the social aspects," Young said while waiting for him to walk out the door Tuesday after finishing his first day of class at Freeland Elementary/Middle School, which reopened this week following a yearlong layoff for COVID-19.

During that year, Young said going to Hickory Run and other parks and meeting friends outdoors helped Bennett, especially in nice weather.

Winter was a little tougher, she said.

Other parents waiting outside the school at dismissal time said their children were excited to attend classes this week.

Cody Mills said homeschooling had been challenging for his son, "but I'm glad to be back to normal."

Jennifer Pecora called online kindergarten an adjustment for her daughter, Elizabeth.

"She needed help at first with everything. Then we got in a routine," Pecora said.

Tiffany Hauze was glad to have been working from home so she could help her daughter, Elsa, log on and attend school virtually. When the chance to go to kindergarten in person arrived, Elsa took it.

"She was so excited. We we're sure this was going to happen," Hauze said.

At Freeland, about two-thirds of students will attend in person, Principal Joe Barletta said.

Younger students are returning at higher rates than middle school students, whom Barletta thinks have a higher comfort level with computers. Students in grades four, five and six may return to classrooms Wednesday, while younger students had a chance to start classes Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, classes resume in person for grades seven, eight and nine.

Barletta said his coworkers prepared Freeland Elementary for students weeks ago.

They put arrows on floors to remind children to walk on the right side of halls. In the cafeteria, stickers on tables mark places where students can sit and still keep physical distance. Maintenance workers cleaned desks, doorknobs and other fixtures.

Students can clean their hands with sanitizer from dispensers in each room and at six stations in hallways.

Asked about ventilation, Barletta said, "We encourage that," while indicating open windows. He said every classroom has a fan, too.

At Hazleton Area Academy of Sciences in Butler Twp., Principal Marie Ernst said when she walked into a classroom, students stopped eating breakfast and put on their masks.

"They are so incredibly respectful," said Ernst, impressed by how well students obeyed rules set to guard against COVID-19.

"They followed all our arrows, kept social distance. It really went well," Ernst said.

At the academy, about 200 of 532 students indicated they wanted to return this week.

The schedule called for the return of seniors on Monday, juniors on Tuesday and sophomores on Wednesday. Ninth graders can come back Thursday, but Ernst expects a larger share of them to stay home than in the other grades.

"They've never been in this building. They don't have any attachment," she said.

For students who continue studying from home, teachers continue streaming lessons from their classrooms into homes via the internet.

Ernst said it's hard for teachers to teach students in the room and on the internet simultaneously, "but they're doing their best."

If teachers want to walk through their classrooms while talking, they have to carry their computers.

The school district, however, has ordered cameras and speakers that will pick up teachers' voices as they pace between desks.

"That will make it better," Ernst said.

At the academy, students frequently work independently, a style of learning that fits well with remote classes.

"We're big on project-based learning and research. That will help," Ernst said.

Some academy students chose to return to classes in person two or three days and study from home the rest of each week, an option that isn't available in all Hazleton Area schools.

Because fewer than half of the students have returned to classes in person, the cafeteria has room for them to separate, and Ernst didn't have to add a lunch period to the schedule.

Two people sit at each lunchroom table with a plastic divider between them.

Students also eat in a large room upstairs, where they sit alone at tables, Ernst said.

Teachers clean their rooms between classes, custodians wipe surfaces that students touch frequently and, after school, spray the academy with disinfectant.

Contact the writer: kjackson@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3587