PESHTIGO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Peshtigo students returned to their classrooms Monday for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With social distancing, face masks, temperature checks, and smaller classroom groups, it’s a much difference experience than what they knew before.
“I was scared to be in person with the virus, but with this plan I know that the school is doing as much as possible,” Lucy Lemire, a 9th grade student said. “I’m not sure if we’re getting dances and stuff like that, so it’s going to really suck, I mean, especially my freshman year, I don’t really get that high school experience…”
Despite the return, there’s still a lot of uncertainty. Jackie Lemire teaches spanish.
“We are just going to start out by talking about the quarantine,” Jackie said. “I have the first week mapped out, but who knows where this year is going to go, we may end up virtual within a few days, within a few weeks.”
Kindergarten through 4th grade is in-person every day. 5th grade through 12th grade is divided, either Monday & Thursday or Tuesday & Friday, with everyone online on Wednesday.
The district says they’re doing the best they can.
“We had to rethink how we do busing, how we do bathroom breaks, and how we do lunch hour, class rosters, and make up of our classrooms,” Superintendent Patrick Rau said. “So, it’s re-creating a brand new school in a matter of months, to keep everybody safe.”
The district has about 600 elementary school students and 550 more pupils at its high school-middle school.
Superintendent Rau says around 190 students in the district opted to stay home and do their coursework entirely online.
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