GRANDVILLE, Mich. — A handful of schools around West Michigan kicked off their first day of school Monday. The type of learning varied across the board with schools like Rockford opting for remote studies to start the year and others like Grandville Public Schools (GPS) giving students the choice between in-person and remote.
GPS Superintendent, Roger Bearup, said in a survey 80% of students and or their parents voted to take in-person classes this semester, while 20% opted for remote learning.
"We're very fortunate we're a one-to-one school district as far as technology, so we knew that would work," Bearup said of online classes, adding that the school had a task force dedicated to creating an interactive and connected relationship for those learning from home.
Bearup said he was impressed by the in-person students today as they kept up on social distancing and mask guidelines.
"Our staff was trained and did a fabulous job on day one, and our kids came in. This morning I was watching our kids coming up through the middle school, parents dropping them off kids coming off the buses, kids walking up to the middle school and to a "T" they all had a mask on," he said.
Hudsonville Public Schools (HPS) also offered the choice of in-person or remote learning, with students having a half day because of the high heat temperatures.
Jennifer Schultz, a mother and grandmother of children who attend HPS said she made the decision to send her son Grayson to school in-person based solely on the fact that she would have to wait until the end of the semester switch preferences.
"The district would not guarantee that there would be room at South, and that is the only elementary school he has ever gone to. I couldn't chance it with this being his last year in elementary," she said.
Upon seeing her son and grandchildren off to the school bus, Schultz said kids on board were not spaced out but did use hand sanitizer getting on board and all students wore their masks.
Schultz said she loves the staff at HPS' South Elementary, praising its principal Mark Heagle on the work thus far.
"They haven't let me down yet, and I don't think they will now," she said.
Rockford Public Schools started their school semester out remote for the first few weeks, something mother of three Miranda DeForest wasn't a fan of in the beginning.
"I bawled my eyes out; I'm not going to lie," she laughed.
However, she said the day of online learning with her kids, grades kindergarten, second and fifth went smoothly.
"It was really organized for them today, we had little to no issues at the elementary level," she said, "...It was my second grader’s first year with a laptop, so I had to help her real well, and then my kindergartner's first year with an Ipad."
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DeForest said learning in the Spring from home was a "mess" and is thankful to have the option for in-person classes in the near future.
" I work full-time, so we had to do everything at night and it was a little stressful. I almost lost my mind," she said, adding "...As long as they go back on the 14th, I can hang onto it for the three weeks."
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