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After almost a year of learning online, Columbus City Schools students in middle and high school will soon be heading back into classrooms.
Students in grades 6, 11 and 12, divided in two groups, will return on March 15 and March 18, according to a Thursday announcement from the district.
Meanwhile, students in grades 7, 8, 9 and 10 will return on March 22 and March 25.
As part of the plan, all high school students will receive free Central Ohio Transit Authority bus passes to alleviate transportation concerns. These won t replace yellow-bus transportation, but supplement it, Columbus City Schools Superintendent Talisa Dixon said in Thursday s update.
The district is using federal grants to buy them, in partnership with COTA, Dixon said.
Another first for a school year rocked by the coronavirus pandemic.
Monday was undoubtedly the coldest first day of school Columbus City Schools has experienced. But after months of waiting, there were no complaints at Ecole Kenwood French Immersion Elementary School on the Northwest Side.
From behind a pink-polka-dotted face mask, Molly, a third-grader, said she was excited to see her friends for the first time in nearly a year.
All students in the state s largest school district have been learning online from home since March 16, 2020, shortly after Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in Ohio because of the pandemic.
Columbus City Schools reconsiders denied COVID leave for 200 educators
The permission, for now, is temporary, as their requests are being re-evaluated, spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said.
The decision, reached Thursday, followed pressure from the district s teachers union, the Columbus Education Association, which announced a major victory that evening.
John Coneglio, its president, said in a statement that he s pleased union members won t have to choose between their health and their career.
About 200 union members had asked the district to take paid leave guaranteed by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, after being advised by a medical professional to quarantine due to being at high risk for contracting COVID-19, according to a news release from the union.
In her 23 years of teaching, Deborah Staples has never been this excited for a class to step into her classroom for the first time.
It s the first time that has ever happened in February, though. And, as expected, the kindergarten room at East Linden Elementary School looks a little different this year.
But much has also stayed the same, if you look beyond the spaced-out desks topped with plastic barriers and the jug of hand sanitizer ready to greet students at the doorway.
There is still a bookshelf stuffed with stories and a vibrantly colored alphabet fastened on the wall. Each desk has a name tag, shaped like a sneaker, and bulletin boards are decorated bright blue, one adorned with a giant cutout of book character Pete the Cat.