NC teachers let their students know they miss them amid COVID-19 school closures
Wake County elementary school teachers are finding ways to let their students know they care about them, even though schools have been closed for two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Elementary school teachers have been holding parades that drive by the neighborhoods of their students with honking horns and waving signs. Parents and students have lined the streets to cheer on their teachers.
“We miss our children, and we want to see their faces,” said Kathleen Noland, a fourth-grade teacher at Laurel Park Elementary School in Apex. “We think this is the best way to see them in person.
“We’ve been seeing them through the (computer) screen, but we want that barrier of the screen down. We want to spread some joy and some light in these hard times.”
Laurel Park was among several Wake County elementary schools that held parades on Friday. Many more schools held their parades earlier in the week.
Parents say the parades mean a lot to them — and their children too. Kristy Biggs, a parent at Laurel Park, said her children got excited when they heard that the teachers would drive by their neighborhood.
“We love our teachers,” Biggs said. “We love Laurel Park, so it just meant a lot that they took four hours out of their day to come see our kids.”
The large community response brought tears to Heather Rogers’ eyes, and to many of her fellow teachers at Middle Creek Elementary School in Apex. The school held its parade Thursday.
“It was so heartwarming to see my students,” said Rogers, a kindergarten teacher. “That’s why I got into teaching in the first place.”
But the parades may be coming to an end with Gov. Roy Cooper announcing Friday his stay-at-home order for all North Carolinians. Gatherings with large groups of people aren’t allowed.
Durham Public Schools put a stop to teacher parades Thursday.
“School and district leaders, when they were made aware of plans for a parade in a Durham neighborhood today, felt that doing so on the day the mayor’s Stay-at-Home order would go into effect would send mixed messages to the community,” Chip Sudderth, a Durham school spokesman, said in an email.
Photojournalist Ethan Hyman contributed
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "NC teachers let their students know they miss them amid COVID-19 school closures."
