On Monday, August 24, Sigonella students stepped into school buildings for the first time in 167 days.
After a spring spent in remote learning, Sigonella Elementary School and Sigonella Middle/High School opened their doors to students for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. In order to serve its mission of educating military-connected students, the Department of Defense Educational Activity provided all students with the choice of either in-person school or virtual school. Families selected their mode of education by July 28, at which time around 90% of students in DoDEA schools in Italy chose to return to brick and mortar schools.
Meg Lynes’s first grade daughter was excited to return to the classroom. “She was so excited to see her friends in person and get to sit at a real desk. She loves learning and truly missed being in a classroom,” she said.
Sigonella teachers returned to work on August 17 to plan for the new school year and prepare for new precautions, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Defense, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. One safeguard involved rearranging classrooms to maximize space between desks.
"Sigonella is an incredibly supportive community,” said Dale Moore, principal. “In addition to the hundreds of man hours teachers put in to preparing classrooms and learning how to mitigate Covid-19, we were fortunate to have a group of dedicated military members who volunteered their time to work alongside the teachers to prepare the building. They turned a deserted campus into a whole new learning environment in the matter of a couple of days."
Other safety measures are in place to protect students and staff. When six feet of distance cannot be maintained, students and teachers must wear masks. Water fountains may only be used for refilling water bottles, students may not share supplies, and times for hand washing and sanitizing are built into the daily schedule. Nevertheless, teachers and staff have found ways to keep students engaged and learning.
Though playground equipment is closed according to DoDEA guidelines, elementary students are still able to have recess. “We are utilizing outdoor spaces around campus in new ways and encouraging mask-free time when students can appropriately maintain social distancing requirements,” said Richard Dye, assistant principal.
Virtual school also began on August 24. In addition to the existing DoDEA Virtual High School, the newly created DoDEA Virtual School K-8 option serves younger students in an online format. Students enrolled in the virtual option must commit for one semester but may return in January if they choose.
While NAS Sigonella is currently in Health Protection Condition Bravo, which allows for in-person schooling, if the HPCON changes to Charlie, students in the building will transition to remote learning led by their classroom teachers. Virtual students would not be affected.
In a newsletter to parents, incoming SES principal Courtney Schonffeldt wrote, “It’s been amazing to see students back in the building, and our staff is working diligently to provide the safest learning space for each child.”
For more information on the DoDEA Returning to School guidelines, visit https://www.dodea.edu/returntoschool.cfm.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 09.21.2020 07:44 |
| Story ID: | 377562 |
| Location: | SIGONELLA, IT |
| Web Views: | 5 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Back to School 2020, by Megan Mills, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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