It’s the first week of school for hundreds of Juneau public school students. Students, teachers and administrators all said they were excited to see each other in person on Monday.
As lunch period started at Thunder Mountain High School, Kafoa Maka and Ammon Kawakami watched a sea of masked students rush down the stairs.
Maka, a senior, said he switched to learning at home last year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and he thinks being in-person will be better for him academically.
“I took all online classes, and they were all pretty easy to get distracted in, but now that I’m back here in the real school, I think I’m going to be able to learn better and like — I don’t know — just learn more and be more focused on what I need to do,” he said.
Kawakami homeschooled last year. He said heading back to in-person classes feels normal. But the masks are complicating things for him.
“I get, like, completely confused because I don’t want to approach [people] and call them by the wrong name and have them be a completely different person,” he said.
At lot of students headed through the lunch line at Thunder Mountain, though a few brought their own or headed outside.
Another change this year is that the district is offering free breakfast and lunch to all students at every school. And Juneau School District Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett says a lot of students took them up on that offer.
At Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, registrar Maria Kappler said she is happy to be back — and the kids are too. The school feels alive, and Kappler said she’s excited for a return to normalcy.
“Last year it was pretty lonely actually, especially the first part when it was all distanced,” she said. “And then even when they came in, there were so few students it just didn’t feel the same.”
Kids ran around and laughing and playing on their phones — it did feel normal. But there were a few things that stood out at the middle school. For example, students that filed into Miah Lager’s art class had to sit in very specific spots at each table. It took a few minutes for them to figure out the map and settle in. Lager apologized to the class but told them it’s important to know which kids are sitting next to each other.
Kappler said that’s for contact tracing, in case anyone gets sick.
“We’re trying to keep close tabs on that even though, you know, we had more students than expected because of budget cuts, so a little tight. But of course knowing where they’re sitting and sitting next to each other is essential,” she said.
Next door to Lager’s art class, Ray Imel continually reminded kids to pull their masks up over their noses. He told them that it’s important so they can all continue to meet in person.
The school district’s plan right now is for five full days a week of in-person learning. Everyone has to be masked when they’re inside, but they can remove those masks when they go outside.
The district reported 300 more students than last year attended school on the first day, though they won’t have a full count until after Kindergarten starts on Thursday.
