Students return to classroom in New Hanover County

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — It’s back to school again for students in New Hanover County.

After seven months of being out of the classroom, students at Southeast Area Technical High School (SEA-Tech) are back with their peers and teachers for in-person learning.

Math Teacher Megan LaBeau says she was nervous, but the first day went smoothly.

“It felt just so good. I mean, it’s been 7 months since we’ve been able to teach our students face to face and spend time with them and see where they struggle,” LaBeau said. “That’s been the biggest thing, to see when they get something or when they don’t get it and that’s so hard to do in front of a computer screen.”

The district is operating on a schedule where A group goes to school Monday and Tuesday and Group B goes to school Thursday and Friday.

For SEA-Tech, that means freshmen get the school to themselves on Monday and Tuesday.

“Most of them are really excited to see people again, to have friends and to meet new people. They’re all 9th graders so they don’t know each other so the online part has been especially hard for them to be on camera and talk to each other when they don’t know each other.”

Principal Dr. Edith Skipper says about 81% of the freshman class opted for in-person learning, making class sizes about 22 to 24 students.

With some zooming in real-time, so teachers are instructing students in the classroom and some at home at the same time.

English Teacher Christa Tompkins’ students arrive on Thursday, so she’s helping out another teacher in the meantime.

“We were all nervous, we were all scared, worried about coming back, what’s going to happen and how the kids are going to react,” Tompkins said.

Despite the nerves, she says all has gone well.

“It felt really, really good. Like it felt normal again,” Tompkins said.

Not everyone has opted for in-person learning. One teacher has been approved to teach from home with the help of a facilitator in the classroom and some children are still learning from home.

Altered learning styles, social distance markers on the floor, hand sanitation stations at every door and students given their own bag of school supplies are all ways SEA-Tech is working to keep everyone safe.

Dr. Skipper says students who would like to opt-in to in-person learning can do so at anytime during the year.