Yet the return on Tuesday, for a first day of school since March, was near perfect. Lacking was chaos that some might have predicted.
Although lines were long in front of every school, traffic was kept moving with help from local law enforcement and school staff. Temperatures had to be checked before car riders got out of their vehicles and bus drivers and monitors took temps of those taking the traditional mode of transportation to school.
Wayne Winters, district transportation director, said no double routes were necessary as was at one time expected. He said everything went very well getting children to school on time. More than 800 students rode buses to campus under new COVID-19 pandemic rules.
Kara Turley, Crittenden County Middle School principal, agreed that the process of getting there went very well.
Now that children are in place for the first time since early spring, the challenge will be keeping them there. If the coming school days go as well as the district's initial arrival to campus, the school board chairman's desire may indeed be met. Chairman Chris Cook said a couple of weeks ago that he wants Crittenden County to be a "model" for other schools on how to return safely to the classroom.
