It seems that every year brings a new challenge. In the case of Rangeley Lakes Regional School, the staff and students have proven highly adaptable. It wasn’t long ago that working around school renovations was the big challenge, but here we are in 2020 and the struggles back then seem minor compared to the all-encompassing efforts made to keep optimum physical and mental health wellness under COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Principal Georgia Campbell agreed, “The renovations were very difficult, but I think I can say this has been much harder on staff. Educators are nurturing in nature and not physically seeing the students has been very difficult. Trying to plan for a safe return back to school has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I think I can speak for the rest of the team that was involved in saying that I would take on five more building projects if I had the choice.”
The fun and optimistic approach to the safety concerns are felt throughout the school. An example is the door of school nurse Lindsey Savage.
Campbell shared the framework for reopening schools and returning to in-person instruction from the Maine Department of Education, along with guidance from the Center for Disease Control, that RLRS will be following. The six requirements are:
1. Symptom screening: all staff and students are expected to screen for potential COVID-19 symptoms at home before coming to school. RLRS disseminated a pre-screening tool in their Return to School Handbook to help families with this task.
2. Maintaining proper physical distancing.
3. Wearing a face-covering except when eating or drinking.
4. Practicing good hand hygiene.
5. Wearing personal protective equipment when necessary.
6. And lastly, they’ve established a return to school plan in the event that a student or staff member becomes ill. They will work together with the school nurse to ensure that all criteria have been met for returning to school.
In addition to the official precautionary measures, Campbell is also encouraging staff to get students outside as much as possible during the course of the school day.
I have only heard positive remarks about how everyone, both students and staff are handling the many changes they have had to adapt to. Campbell confirmed what I had heard from others. “I think morale is better than could be expected and as time goes on will get even better as we settle into the year.”
Campbell expressed her gratitude to everyone involved in meeting each hurdle as it arose. “I am very proud of our school and so proud of our community. The community has supported us in so many ways- such as providing meals and monetary donations, and many have called to see if they could help in some way and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. When we work together, we can accomplish anything.”
Physical distancing and mask guidelines seen here in this 3rd grade class.
Teamwork is obviously required when successfully facing the various obstacles and tough decisions, but each challenge at RLRS invariably leads to an opportunity to fully express the optimistic RLRS phrase coined last spring that indeed, “Rangeley Rises”.
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