Gwen Barstad, Early Childhood / Special Education Teacher, takes Selah Brunner’s temperature on the first day of school at Childhood Development Services.
A dozen or so parents gathered with their children outside of Children’s Developmental Services (CDS) Monday morning. Proud parents snapped back-to-school pictures as others strapped backpacks on tiny outreached arms. At the door, parents stood with their children on social-distanced dots as kids took turns sanitizing their hands and getting their temperatures taken. Next, was the big moment parents said goodbye to their littles. Some kids rushed off while others stood hesitantly and a few cried.
This marks the first day for many young students as CSD returned to full capacity Monday morning marking the third and final phase of the school’s COVID-19 reopening plan since abruptly shutting down last March. Although younger students had returned to CDS as a part of the school’s first two phases, the school had previously been unable to accommodate all 137 children in attendance due to state public health orders.
“This is the largest number of students allowed in the facility since its abrupt closure last spring,” CDS Executive Director Bob Tranus said.
Initially, only staff were allowed on-site, he added. In May, the facility implemented phase one, reopening its services for working parents of full-time students only. CDS averaged around 35 students per day under phase one, Tranus said. At that point, staff worked rotating shifts two to three days a week.
In June, phase two was implemented, and CDS resumed catering to all preschoolers, including half-time students as well as students with special needs. Around 110 preschoolers attended CDS per day under phase two. The only group that was excluded from returning to the facility were the soon-to-be kindergarteners who’d outgrown preschool, Tranus said.
With the start of phase three today, the facility has introduced the newest batch of preschoolers, most of whom are only 3 years old and have never attended preschool or daycare until now.
“The biggest difference that we’ll see today is all of the brand-new kids coming in,” Tranus said.
Since its reopening, CDS has enforced a strict no-visitors policy that prohibits parents from entering the building while dropping off their toddlers. Now, he said, those typical first-day jitters are accompanied by an extra layer of stress for both students and their parents.
“There’s been some anxiety with all the new procedures,” Tranus admitted.
For CDS’s morning screening process, parents answer symptom questions about their child before the student is temperature tested and cleared to go inside. It’s generally quick for the students, Tranus said, but it still feels foreign and strange for younger children to be subject to such adaptations.
“We’ve seen all the typical separation issues this morning,” he said, “but it’s been amplified a bit, with the kids not seeing their classrooms beforehand then being handed off to teachers wearing masks.”
Tranus said that despite the changes in daily drop-off tactics, student life at CDS hasn’t changed too much.
Since the facility already practiced small, in-classroom lunches, the only change to mealtime is the pre-portioning of foods as opposed to CDS’s previous self-serve, family meal approach to lunches. Also, recesses now consist of only one classroom at a time on the playground, rather than three to four classes prior to COVID-19.
In spite of these minor changes, Tranus said that CDS is running “like normal again,” relatively speaking.
The Wyoming Department of Health provides COVID-19 case, variant, death, testing, hospital and vaccine data online. The department also shares information about how the data can be interpreted. COVID-19 safety recommendations are available from the CDC.
