8A | SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 | SIUSLAW NEWS
PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Mapleton staff and Salty the Sailor welcomed
back students on March 3. Classrooms and
hallways demonstrate the COVID-19 safety
precautions the school district has prepared
to be able to resume in-person instruction.
The school district has
been able to rearrange
things as needed, adapt-
ing spaces to allow for
maximum distance and
limiting exposure. One of
those changes is converting
a space into an isolation
room with its own entrance.
This is where people will go
if they exhibit symptoms of
COVID-19 while on cam-
pus.
“Please make sure if you
have any signs of COVID
— fever, chills, cough,
shortness of breath or you
lose your taste and smell —
stay home. If it’s at school,
you let staff know immedi-
ately,” O’Mara said.
Mapleton juniors and
seniors join grades one
through six in their return
to campus.
“It’s been really great at
the elementary,” O’Mara
said. “They’re getting into
the routine. You know, it’s
hard. It’s tough. But staff
are happy, kids are happy.”
Even the kindergarten-
ers, where this has been
their first experience in
school, have adapted to the
masks and social distance.
It helps that many were
able to attend in-person
preschool for part of last
year.
“Primary [school] kid-
dos have a hard enough
time with spatial reasoning
and body awareness, so the
six-foot distance is really
tough. In fact, we just tell
them to stretch out their
arms and fingers and keep
that distance,” O’Mara said.
By bringing back the
oldest high schoolers early,
the district hopes to set up
a routine for the rest of the
school.
“We brought our 11th
and 12th graders in first be-
cause first of all, they’re the
closest to graduating. They
V
E U
OT S
F
BEST O
E
MAPLETON from page 1A to classrooms. So, while our
11th and 12th graders are
Working with the old- one cohort, there’s an 11th
er students will also allow grade classroom and a 12th
the campus to go over the grade classroom. And then
safety measures in place the teachers are moving to
to prevent exposure to the classrooms to teach,”
COVID-19. These include O’Mara said.
wearing a mask at all times,
She later explained that
except for during designat- teachers and staff have had
ed mask breaks; washing to adapt, with several of
hands often; and remaining them sharing wide open
in assigned cohorts.
rooms as combined office
Mapleton High School spaces. This all works to-
has posted reminders of gether to make sure there
these rules in the hallways, are enough designated
along with traffic dividers classrooms.
and hand sanitizing sta-
“The
teachers
and
tions. The bathrooms are staff have been amazing,”
also single-occupancy and O’Mara said. “It’s not ide-
clearly labeled with one co- al to have teachers moving
hort each. Drinking foun- between classrooms, but we
tains are still available, but worked hard to make sure
only the water bottle filling they taught the same class
stations can be accessed.
in the same classroom. For
As O’Mara said, “All the us to be able to get all kids
little things that need to on campus, that’s what had
happen to so we can get to happen.”
people back.”
The teachers have rolling
After teacher Louis Bur- carts to help move their
russ did a demonstration materials back and forth.
of the proper way to wear
“We also are so thankful
masks, the administrators that we had our remodel
talked to the students about with the bond we passed,
what a school day will look because we have a brand-
like. Students have been as- new HVAC unit, so ven-
signed homerooms, where tilation is not an issue,”
they have a bin to hold their O’Mara said.
belongings.
With new windows and
“In order for us to get all external doors outside
of our kids on campus, we most classrooms, airflow
have assigned grade levels has been increased.
F LO E N C
R
need support and we need
them on campus to be able
to do what we need to do
for seniors to ensure they
graduate, get scholarships,
have life plans, things like
that,” O’Mara said. “I was
really honest when I told
them, they are our leaders.”
Next, the ninth and 10th
grade students will return
to campus on March 10,
followed by the middle
schoolers on March 15.
“You can feel the energy,”
O’Mara said while walking
the halls. “Even just yester-
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day as we were putting these
(barriers and signs) up,
training staff and talking
about it all, the energy level
has been so cool. … All the
hard work of Zoom, Goo-
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virtual instruction, all the
screens with black boxes
and names on them — now
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And that’s what we need,
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waiting for — our kids back
on campus.”
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