Back to school in New London Students don masks as they head back to class after long break

NEW LONDON - Instead of walking straight into the school building, the 2020-2021 school year for many New London Community School District students began with reminders to stay socially distanced and to pick up masks provided by the district.

On Tuesday, New London students re-entered school buildings for the first time since the shutdown in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Many came prepared with their own face coverings, excited to start the school year even in light of all the changes and a new normal.

'I get to be a panda,” Tate Jacobs, a sixth-grader, said while wearing a panda-print mask as he stood in line with friends preparing to head into his first day.

'Being a panda is awesome,” Jacobs added.

'It fogs my glasses,” fellow sixth-grader Tray Schuster said about his mask.

Superintendent Chad Wahls said the first day of school tends to be 'a little more chaotic,” but once students get back into a routine, things are expected to go more smoothly.

The schools have implemented some changes to help further mitigate the spread of the virus. To keep crowds down, sixth- through 12th-grade students have been designated five different entrances to enter the building each day. Masks are required of students who are in the fourth grade and older.

'We talked yesterday as teachers and said if we want expectations, we got to lead by them. It starts with us first as adults as the educators, and what we want expected, we have to start today,” Wahls said.

The superintendent said about 80 to 90 percent of students arrived at school with their own face coverings.

'It's great. It shows parents and families are willing and ready to support expectations,” he added. 'Everybody wants their kids back to school. We want them and their parents want them to go back. Now we just gotta keep them in school.”

And even though not all students were enthusiastic about having to keep masks on during the school day, many understood the importance of wearing them.

'I don't really like wearing the mask, but I know it keeps us safe,” Lynnae Huston, a ninth-grader, said.

Huston added that she is most looking forward to being able to play volleyball again.

'They're thinking, for the high school, having us wear masks while we play,” she said.

Liz Kuckler, whose son Colton is starting kindergarten at Clark Elementary, said she began implementing the use of masks early on to help get him ready and used to wearing it for school.

'He's pretty good with it. It's just standard in our house to have it wherever we go,” she said.

After fixing his mask and walking Colton to his classroom, Kuckler added she was feeling 'a little nervous” about sending him off to school, a feeling Colton didn't seem to share.

'He's excited to see his friends, not too excited about school, but he missed everyone,” she said.

First-grader Ava Jacobs, who made sure her mermaid face covering would match her Princess Ariel backpack, was similarly excited to be heading back to school with her siblings, Gabriel and Addelinn.

'He has Spiderman and I have Ariel,” she said, showing off the family's new back-to-school gear.

Ava's father, Tony, who works at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility, said he was feeling nervous about sending his kids back. As an employee of the prison, Tony is used to wearing not only masks but face shields as well, measures he and his entire family are taking to try to stay safe.

'At this point, I don't know what else to do other than try to get back to normal life at this point … we try to take whatever precautions we can as parents and hope for the best for them and the school,” he said. 'They need to go back to school, so we got to do what we got to do.”