Quarantine is not only tough on kids, but it’s also hurting school staff. Teachers have missed seeing their students so much, that they couldn’t hold it back anymore. So the staff of Pleasantdale School came up with a safe way to greet most of their kids and also to show them how much they mean to them.
Last Tuesday afternoon a colourful fleet of decorated staff vehicles went around the neighbourhood. Current and some former Pleasantdale students and their families were waiting at the curbside to see the staff, say hi and wave back. School mascot Pleasantdale Bulldog was cruising in one of the vehicles and greeting the families as well.
“It was so fun. It was a little bit emotional, but it was so fun to see all these faces and their smiles,” said school principal Michelle Smart.
“I think that what we miss the most is just seeing our students every day.”
They’ve seen a few schools doing something similar. One of the former teachers, who is currently working in Regina, participated in a similar event and Pleasantdale staff found it to be a great idea.
“We’ve been thinking of ways to keep our school culture going and to be able to make connections and have a little fun together. So we thought, why not, let’s do a little parade,” said Smart.
If teachers had time to decorate their vehicles, they could do it in any way they wanted. But the main idea was to just get out there and see the students. Grade 8 teacher Christa Kurtz went above and beyond, decorating her car to cheer up her class that is graduating and moving on to the Comp in September.
“She put a lot of effort in, I really appreciate that. It was fun for her Grade 8 students,” said Smart.
It took the staff about a week to put everything together. They made a poster, came up with the date that would fit everybody and let the families know. Vice-principle Devin Aspinall, who is from Estevan and knows the area really well, was tasked with the map for the parade and he came up with a very detailed route covering most of the school boundary area.
The goal was to hit most of the little streets and see most of the students, but it turned out that twisting and turning from drive to drive, teachers ended up missing a little street marked on the map.
“We did disappoint some of our families and we all are feeling bad about that. It didn’t happen on purpose, but we missed a little section of the street that we had marked on the map,” said Smart.
And since some students who came out to greet the parade never saw it, several teachers decided to come out there at the end of the week to make sure they got to see these kids as well.
Smart said that they had a great turnout and saw many students. And some of them even moved from location to location to meet the parade a few times.
An Estevan Police Service car also joined the parade to add a bit of volume and colours, and to support the initiative.
Many teachers had their families with them, greeting students’ families along the route.
Smart also noted that while it’s really hard for them not to see the kids, they are getting into a better routine working remotely and doing their best to help kids moving forward in their education process.
“My teachers have been absolutely amazing and positive through all of this. And our school division is giving us lots of support,” said Smart.
“And I just would really like our families to know how much we (appreciate that) we have such a great and never-ending support … We appreciate everything they are doing to support us and to support their children and we definitely recognize that it’s not easy for our families either.”
She added that the staff is now trying to see if they can organize their traditional art show and probably some other activities in a different format and also find some safe way to celebrate the end of the year.
