TROUTVILLE – During a stop at Greenfield Elementary School last week, the state’s top educator was impressed at how the students and staff are handling learning during a pandemic.
No sooner had James Lane, Virginia’s Superintendent of Public Instructions, walked into the school, student Ayanna Banks was taking his temperature with a digit thermometer. Next, student Noah Horn was showing Lane where to sign in, hand sanitizer and tissues close by.
Donning a Greenfield Elementary School mask, Lane toured classrooms, talked with students and educators about teaching approaches during COVID-19.
“It’s really interesting to see all the different approaches that schools are taking from in-person, to hybrid to virtual,” Lanes said, adding he was “impressed” with Botetourt County’s process.
He said the state has been worried about hybrid schedules allowing students to move forward scholastically as they should. However, after touring Greenfield Elementary and listening to county education officials, he’s going to take back some of Botetourt school’s ideas to Richmond.
“Here in Botetourt we’ve definitely seen great learning going on and great engagement and that’s certainly something we are going to take back to Richmond,” he said.
During his 45-minute visit, he peeked inside classrooms to better understand the challenges teachers face; he stopped by the adapted cafeteria where the desk was socially distance. He stopped in one first-grade classroom where desks were several feet apart, red tote bags leaned against nearly every desk. Students, some wearing masks, some not, are busy with pencils and workbooks. At another stop, student Noah Horn shows Lane some work he’s doing in his notebook.
He also spoke with Greenfield Principal Laura Camp about the new rules and regulations in place to keep students and teachers safe, but also keeping a sense of normality. She explained to Lane, despite some hiccups, the staff at Greenfield is making progress.
“We joined together as a family here in Greenfield,” she said of the students and faculty, adding they are determined return to normality.
A statement Lane quickly agreed with, saying many shared Camp’s goal of teaching in an environment as “normal as possible.”
Greenfield Elementary was Lane’s first stop on a three-day tour of Southwest Virginia’s schools. Stops also included Tazewell, Pennington Gap, Gate City, Norton, Hillsville, Saltville, Independence, Galax and Wytheville.
He explained the tour is to listen and learn. “We are going to continue to listen to [educators’] needs and make sure we can support them any way we can,” he said.
