Starting school out the right way

I am not ashamed to be the first one to admit that I absolutely hate the health guidelines put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am also not ashamed to admit that as this twilight zone of a year has carried on, I have found myself respecting the reasons for those guidelines more and more. 
For the first time ever, as I prepared to send my youngest to school for his first day of kindergarten, I was dreading what that would look like amid a global pandemic. 
Would I be able to take a picture with his teacher on the first day? What would lunch look like? How is he going to find his classroom? Will he actually be able to play at recess? What about the ability to interact with other students
or staff?
The list of questions rolled on forever and as a mom the fear and anxiety ate at me until the first morning of school. As we drove around town, it was like Kazen could read my mind, questions flooded out of his mouth. All I could do was hope for the best and assure him that everything would
be okay. 
As we approached the school, I was pleased to see teachers in dinosaur costumes, kindergarten teachers standing outside waiting to greet us so I could snap that first day photo, and parents hugging their children and wishing them the best
of luck. 
I was pleased to see a first day of school, just like any other. There was excitement on the faces of parents, staff and kids, and tears rolling down the faces of just as many. I saw some wearing masks and others maintaining their distance. 
I saw children who were chomping at the bit to get back in that building and teachers eager to start a school year as normal
as possible. 
What I didn’t see, despite the last five months of confusion, stress and the overwhelming fear of the future, was people judging others for our decisions. I didn’t see both sides of the debate, I saw a community that could come together and respect each other for the betterment of our kids. 
That evening, during the Weston County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees meeting, I heard school administration praise the kids. I heard them talk about how excited they all were to be there, about how things went much more smooth than they ever could have imagined. I heard them be truly grateful to be back with the students and doing what they love. 
“For the first time since March I could hear kids on the playground. That’s what we are about, that’s why we do what we do. It will all be better if we listen to the kids on the playground,” WCSD No. 1 Superintendent Brad LaCroix said. “I have never been happier to be back at work.” 
As parents, we need to encourage a positive learning environment, we need to do what we can to keep our children in school, and we need to support the staff at the schools. The more we all come together, put our different beliefs aside, and abide by the guidelines, the more time our kids will get to spend with the teachers and administration that have a drive and passion to care for them, to educate them and to love them.