NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)– After weeks of remote learning, students at one New Haven school got to see their teachers in person Friday morning. They got some other nice surprises, too.
Thanksgiving is not until next week, but there was a lot to be thankful for at New Haven’s Wexler Grant School. Students and parents got supplies and other goodies to make the distance learning thing a little easier.
Usually, kids are looking forward to not going to school for Thanksgiving. It’s all different this year.
“We know that we are remote learning right now and kids are not coming back into school,” explained principal David Diah. “So what we wanted to do was give back to the community.”
By giving the kids some things to make learning from home a little easier.
“We got them learning on the Chromebooks that they needed,” Diah said. “Now we’re giving them all the materials, the books, the supplies, the pencils, the paper, the whiteboard to make learning at home as smooth a transition as if they were in school.”
Helping out is the historically African-American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha [Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter] with extras like water bottles and hand sanitizer.
“The children are happy to see their teachers, happy to see us and a little surprise, and their parents are happy that we thought about them as well,” said school speech pathologist and Alpha Kappa Alpha member Sondi Jackson.
As happy as the students are to see the teachers, the teachers are just as happy to see their students. Even though remote classes are still held every day, it’s tough to maintain a real connection without seeing the kids in person.
“So what you’re seeing right now is actually students and families teaming up with teachers and staff and that connection is still there, and we just wanted to give that day of joy for everybody,” Diah said.
What everybody wants to know is when they are going to be back in school for real. Unfortunately, nobody knows that. That is up to the Coronavirus numbers.