EDINBURG — Long lines of vehicles waiting to drop off their students wrapped campuses on Monday, the first day back to in-person learning after a difficult year of virtual learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the many neighboring school districts, the Edinburg school district also chose to enforce face masks in school despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s legal threats against any entity that goes against his executive order prohibiting mask mandates.
Every person, including parents and students, at Edinburg’s South Middle School entering the campus wore their masks and were also assisted by the school’s principal, Mary Garza.
“Not only ECISD but the surrounding school districts have all mandated the masks due to the rise in (COVID-19) cases, especially cases in children,” Garza said. “We all have to be cognizant of the fact that students that are from eleven years old (and younger) are not vaccinated, they aren’t eligible for vaccinations.”
This also marks the first year in which ECISD offers pre-kindergarten classes for children as young as 3 years old.
As one would expect, many toddlers don’t do well when being detached from their parents’ side and when one cries it causes a chain reaction which then has the parents negotiating with their child or children.
It’s hard to imagine a toddler keeping their face mask on, especially in a new, educational environment, but upon visiting Flores-Zapata Elementary, the children were well mannered and diligently coloring as the morning went on, though a few continued to shed tears.
“They have their little moments but then they remember that they’re in school and their parents aren’t here and, you know, it’s just about getting them calmed down again,” first-year Pre-K teacher Amber Garcia said. “A lot of them came in excited and they just chose their chair right away, they didn’t even ask questions.
“So, some of them came ready to learn and some of them were a little scared.”
Every pre-k 3 classroom had two paraprofessionals with the teacher in order to help them keep an eye on each toddler in case one needed an adult’s full attention such as going to the bathroom, though plenty of the students were very able.
Many of the kids helped each other out when walking in line, making friends or guiding each other to the classroom. One toddler attempted to calm a crying classmate by placing his hand on her shoulder only to be met by a loud wail. Another long haired, cowboy boot-wearing 3-year-old boy casually gave a thumbs up as Principal Victoria Martinez monitored the class from the hallway.
Martinez had rushed back to her office to find cookies to offer the crying girl in order to calm her down but returned only to remember that a student in that class has a food allergy and decided against the notion; a testament of her care for the students.
Walking the halls of Flores-Zapata Elementary, the many precautions to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 were everywhere such as hand sanitizer dispensers, face masks on every person, locked covers on the water fountains’ spout and more.
“In the classroom, we have our desks three feet apart, the kids are social distancing, they’re keeping their mask on, we have the student desk guards as well,” Martinez said. “We have bottled water for the children, extra squirt bottles and (touch-less) water (dispensers) … so the child just puts the bottle in and it’s refillable.”
Back at South Middle School, similar safety precautions are also being practiced.
Entering through the front office, there’s a temperature check station to be used before students can fully enter the building and teachers do their part in keeping the classrooms and environments clean.
Teachers were provided a sort of “COVID kit” to disinfect classrooms which comes with a disinfectant spray which teachers like English language arts teacher, Margaret De La Viña-Reyna, uses between each period before her next class enters the room.
“I think we’re doing the best that we can and, you know, with the temperature checks and the mask being on, trying our best to socially distance as much as possible, I feel like all of that together we’re doing a good job,” De La Viña-Reyna said.
Fortunately, the staff at these schools have been fully vaccinated but the mask mandate is in place in order to avoid spread of the disease from the student’s school or faculty’s work back to their homes and families.
Both campuses have already faced a bit of backlash from a few parents who don’t like the idea of their child being told to wear a mask at school but were appropriately reasoned with.
“It’s all about student safety,” Garza said. “We have to keep the kids safe.”
