Back to school: Atascadero gets ‘fresh start’ as kids return to classrooms full time
The air was thick with first-day-of-school jitters as thousands of Atascadero Unified School District students returned to in-person instruction, many for the first time since March 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to transition to fully online classes.
At Atascadero Middle School, students huddled in groups, studying campus maps to find out where their English, math and social science classes were going to be for the first semester of the 2021-22 school year.
Teachers and staff hurried from group to group, asking students if they needed help finding classes and reminding them of the new COVID-19 safety policies in place.
“I’m excited, I think it’s almost kind of like a fresh start,” said Darcy Kaselionis, an eighth-grade language arts teacher at the North County middle school. “Everybody’s excited to be back. I feel like kids are excited to be back, teachers are excited to be back, parents are excited to have kids back. So I think everybody’s really just jazzed.”
Kaselionis’ sentiments were widely reflected on the school’s campus.
Atascadero is the first public district in San Luis Obispo County to return to full in-person school this school year. It comes after heated debates over the state’s mask mandate largely took over school board meetings, with many in the community asking the district to buck the guidance.
All students at the Atascadero district schools are required to wear face coverings while indoors on campus. Once outdoors, the masks can be taken off.
All staff are required to wear the masks when indoors in the same vicinity of students. While in areas of campus alone or outdoors, they can take the masks off.
The district is also exercising other common-sense hygiene practices, like keeping hand sanitizers at nearly every classroom entrance and encouraging students to wash hands often. Should a student show symptoms of COVID-19 while in school, they will be quarantined and parents will be encouraged to get their kid tested for the virus.
Some guidelines, such as 6-foot distancing, are not necessary this year, according to state and local public health guidance.
Atascadero Middle School Interim Principal Will Wallace said students and staff should feel safe being on campus because of the protocols they have in place. He noted that staff have been receptive of the state’s guidance and are willing to implement the mandates.
Wallace also said that a big bonus to the mask-wearing is they can be taken off while outside, which provides a much-needed break from wearing face coverings all day.
“It’s a small price to pay (to wear a mask). Really, everyone just wants to be here,” he said. “They want to learn, and they want to be with each other.”
Students OK wearing masks
Students said wearing masks while in school was not ideal. They noted their faces get hot and sweaty after wearing masks for a while, especially if exercising indoors with a mask on.
“It’s alright,” said Atascadero eighth-grader Malena Duran. “It makes us safe, so I don’t mind.”
Other students echoed her statements, noting that their parents felt fine with them going to school wearing masks.
The main concern from students was not focused on the masks, however. Many students had not returned to in-person education in the spring when the district offered a hybrid, half-day model.
So, students said they’re nervous about getting back into the swing of things again.
“Basically, I’m super excited because I haven’t been to real school in a while. But I’m really scared,” Duran’s friend Gabi Ramsey said with a small laugh. “We’re scared because we’ve been home for so long we don’t know how to socialize.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 1:45 PM.
