SPOKANE, Wash. — Students are returning to North Central High School after almost a year of remote learning on Monday.
SPS is now allowing middle and high school students back into the classroom in a hybrid model beginning March 1. This means students will spend some days learning remotely and others in-person. SPS is going with this format to reduce student populations in schools in order to meet health and safety requirements.
"This has been a really good day," said North Central High School Principal Steve Fisk. "This has been a great morning, and we're so excited to have the kids back. This is what we do, what we're designed to do. While the procedures and processes are so different and new, just having the kids back is so amazing."
Students in Group A returned Monday and students in Group B will return Tuesday. Students are split up into groups based on whether they live in even or odd numbered houses. Group A and Group B will alternate who goes in person on Fridays.
Many other safety precautions are also in place such as one way hallways, stair cases.
"It feels kind of like a driver course honestly, as you start to walk through the building all the way to the cafeteria," Fisk said. "We have to maintain six feet of social distancing, wearing a mask at all times, keeping hands clean."
Fisk told KREM 2 the school felt deserted after students quickly switched to remote learning at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"If you go back a year ago, we had what felt like a day to get everybody out and on their way in this global pandemic... The next day I came to school and the building was completely empty, it felt kind of like a ghost town," Fisk said. "It has been like that for quite some time for me personally, and to feel that life and the love, and the care, and the passion, and just the energy of the kids coming back - oh so exciting, it's just wonderful."