When St. John Neumann Regional Academy in Williamsport opened its doors to five-day-a-week education on August 31st, it marked the culmination of several weeks of hard work over the summer to make things safe for students.
“It involved a lot of physical work, a lot of legalities and things like that,” said Principal Alisia McNamee. “To make sure that everything was six-feet apart, that we were wearing masks, that we had everything installed for sanitization and water and things like that.”
McNamee praised the students, families, faculty and staff for doing a great job.
“Everybody was all in from day one,” she said. “We’ve had very, very few problems. I just cannot say enough about the resilience of this school community and these families and the perseverance and determination to make sure these kids get their education and are safe and healthy.”
McNamee says they’ve tried to get the kids outside as much as possible and to get them as many mask breaks as they can. She acknowledges that may be tougher now with the colder weather coming but still….
“I am very relieved that we have been able to do this thus far and I am very confident in our being able to continue that.”
The education has certainly looked a lot different for the kids at St. John Neumann Regional Academy and at schools across the state and country. But the effort continues to make it as normal and fun as possible.
“The teachers have gone above and beyond,” McNamee said. “We have done things academy-wide for the students, just trying to create fun days for them, implementing some more dress-down days, having special activities. In the classrooms the teachers are setting incentives for the students .”
McNamee says the folks at the school always have prided themselves on being a family. One silver lining to this months-long cloud that has hung over all of us is the strengthening of that bond at St. John Neumann.
“This has made that bond all the stronger, knowing that we going through this together and we are finding our way together. “
