Elementary school celebrates surviving COVID with field day

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The last week of school is always bittersweet.

For teachers and their students, this year has not been textbook. Despite the challenges, educators have been able to overcome and deserve the highest of grades.

Over the past year, both the staff and students at Sale Elementary showed the community that COVID wasn’t going to stop them from being their best.

Jessica Duncan is a second-grade teacher at Sale Elementary School in Columbus. She combines in-person lessons with new tech skills.

“At the beginning, it was really rocky like, you’re not listening. Follow directions. Now it’s like, ok we’re logging in and they’re there before I can even get ready,” Duncan, said.

Some students don’t have internet access at home. Being flexible was necessary.

“I’ve always said you know, you’ve got to be flexible because if you don’t bend, you break. And this group of teachers have been extremely flexible. Willing to do whatever it takes, like I said, to reach our kids,” Sale Elementary Principal, Dr. Aaron Lee, said.

Teachers like Duncan say parents were key.

“A lot of them were really just involved. They were calling, ‘Hey, did he do his lessons?’ Because they were seeing the independence as well. ‘What did they make? Can, he turn this in late because he’s not doing well? Can you give us more work? So yes, they were very involved,” Duncan said.

According to Dr. Lee, 50% of the students were online and in the classroom at the beginning of the pandemic. However, by the end of the year, 90% of the kids had returned to campus.

“The kids are resilient and more than anything it showed me how much the kids missed being at school. And, they want to be here, they want to be in class, they want to be around their friends and they want to learn,” Dr. Lee said.

In addition to learning the regular curriculum, both parents and teachers have seen improvements in the children’s ability to be independent.