Excitement, anxiety as Washington students return to school

After a school year of mask mandates and quarantines, Washington students returned to a semblance of normalcy for the first day of classes Monday morning.

“This is our favorite day of the year, we love welcoming kids back, we get really excited about it,” Stewart Elementary Principal Adam Miller said. “The one thing we always want to do is start really well, we want kids to feel good about school, and we want them to feel loved and cared for while we’re here.”

Several staff noted changes from last year’s first day back, including the lack of a mask mandate.

“It’s great, we get to see kids’ smiles, and they’re excited and just glad to be back in school again,” paraeducator Denice Chalupa said. “Once they get here they get busy, and they’re busy all day.”

Because preschool at Stewart starts later than the older grade levels, several of the building’s preschool staff gathered around entrances to welcome students and their families, offering doughnuts to frazzled parents on their way out the door.

Preschool paraprofessional Emily Klopfenstein said it was an emotional day for everyone involved.

“Most kids are very excited,” she said. “They’re ready to meet their teachers, get in their classroom … The parents, I think, are ready. There are those dropping off their kindergartners, so they’re sad or a little more emotional, it’s the baby of the family, but for the most part parents are excited because their kids are excited.”

Kindergartner parent Dianne Townsend agreed, saying she was happy about the opportunity for her child, despite the Day 1 nerves.

“It’s not scary, I’m not afraid of it,” she said. “It’s kind of a new journey, but the experience here when we did orientation was great, and everyone is very welcoming.”