‘We made it.’ Manatee students and parents celebrate the end of a pandemic school year

Fighting back tears of relief, Kaila Parrish took a photo of her daughter outside of Ballard Elementary on Thursday morning, the last day of classes for Manatee County’s public school students.

“We made it,” Parrish said, reflecting on the pandemic school year.

When schools reopened last August, they enforced social distancing, mask rules and the district’s no-visitor policy, a measure that forced parents to leave their children at the front door on their first day.

Though she valued a face-to-face education with teachers and classmates, Parrish was unsure how the safety measures would affect her 7-year-older daughter last year.

“The children having to wear a mask all day, that being different,” she said. “Different is always scary.”

Parrish still felt mixed emotions on Thursday morning. Not because of the pandemic or the now-familiar safety measures, but because her daughter was growing up.

She passed her classes, made friends and earned her path to third grade, all while staying healthy during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel happy today,” Parrish said. “I feel peaceful.”

A YEAR OF FIRSTS

The same sense of hope and accomplishment was felt district-wide on Thursday morning.

Just before 6 a.m., school board members and district leaders cheered for dozens of school buses at the Matzke Support Center in Bradenton.

As dawn approached, the sky turned from black to cotton candy blue and pink, lighting the drivers on their last route of the semester.

“Thank you, thank you,” Deputy Superintendent Doug Wagner said, waving at one of the departing buses.

“We are No. 1,” a bus aide shouted from a passenger-side window, smiling at the group of district leaders.

About 10 miles away, at Lakewood Ranch High School, students gathered in the courtyard for a celebration of their own.

It was a year of firsts — some better than others. For most students, it was the first time that “social distancing” and “contact tracing” became everyday words.

But this year also saw a first in high school softball. The Mustangs became the first public school in county history to win a state softball title, and Thursday’s pep rally also celebrated senior Riley Simmons for winning a state title in the Class 4A shot put.

Standing nearby, 10th-graders Nicole Majewski and Lorenzo Liberti took in the festivities: A marching band, speeches from school leaders and the crowd of people donning face masks.

Both were eager to enjoy their summer and return to a more familiar school year in August. While they understood the need for caution when COVID-19 first emerged, they were also weary after a year of stringent rules and canceled social events.

“It felt really unorganized at first but now we’re adapted,” said Liberti, who feels more confident after receiving two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The return to ‘normal’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has largely ended its mask recommendation for fully vaccinated people. And as of Thursday, there were three different vaccines available, including one — the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — that was open to children as young as 12.

The availability of vaccines and the updated CDC guidance, along with pressure from local parents and state officials, has led Manatee County’s school board to reconsider its mask mandate.

Board members are expected to end the mask policy during a special meeting on Friday morning, scheduled for 9 a.m. at the School Support Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W.

And with the school district no longer offering the online learning platform that was used earlier in the pandemic, most students are making their return to campus. About 49,100 are expected to enroll in local public schools, both traditional and charter, according to last month’s estimate from the school district.

Only about 50% of district students were learning in person when the school year first started, said Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, who joined the early-morning celebration of bus drivers on Thursday.

Last year, there were fewer buses to greet and more concerns to weigh. How would they prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools and buses? Could they keep the virus at bay while also continuing in-person classes?

Labor Day was the first big milestone. Once they made it past September with no outbreaks or school closures, district leaders knew they had a fighting chance, Saunders said.

As of Thursday, district schools and offices recorded at least 700 COVID-19 cases and more than 8,500 exposures during the last semester, which began in early January.

An exposure means someone was in proximity to a positive case for at least 15 minutes, and every exposure leads to a precautionary quarantine. That process helped to curtail the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Going forward, district leaders are preparing for a return to “pre-COVID conditions” in August. And with more experience under her belt, the superintendent was feeling hopeful on Thursday, the last day for students and the latest milestone in a trying school year.

“We took it day by day and month by month,” she continued. “What it showed me is this community — our parents, our students, our staff — just really did a tremendous job persevering through a lot of challenges.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 3:33 PM.