CINCINNATI — Students start their day at Mount Auburn Preparatory Academy with their masks on and a temperature check.
Dr. Albert Bailey Jr. teaches kindergarten at the school, where even the littlest students are required to wear masks.
“It’s the cutest thing to see the little people with the mask. It’s bigger than their whole face,” Bailey said.
The school, which teaches children up to 12th grade, offered three options for back to school: Students can attend traditional classes, they can do half of their classes in person and half online or they can do all of their classes online.
Teachers who were concerned about returning to the school are able to teach primarily online.
The school’s policy limits class size to 16 students due to social distancing requirements, but classes currently have much fewer students than that.
School officials said 33 students are taking traditional, in-person classes, 101 are doing half in person and 104 are taking online classes only.
We are inside a Cincinnati classroom to show you what in person learning is like for students, teachers and staff during the pandemic. Watch at 4 on @wcpo @MtAuburnPrep pic.twitter.com/6svP8l0ekV
— Courtney Francisco (@CFranciscoWCPO) August 28, 2020
Serenity Wanamaker is one of the students taking in-person classes.
“It’s pretty much the same as it was before, just less students. I would say more one-on-one time,” Wanamaker said.
Students have breakfast in homeroom, where desks are spaced out for social distancing. Students are also spread out at lunchtime, and teachers frequently clean high-touch areas in the classroom.
Principal Craig Horn said the students have exceeded his expectations in dealing with COVID-19 requirements.
In the event of an outbreak, the school has an assessment team that is prepared to conduct contact tracing, Horn said.
“We do have a pretty big building. We have the opportunity to close floors, close wings, and that may keep us from doing a complete closure,” Horn said.
Bailey, who is also a father of four, said he is on high alert for all of his students.
Bailey suggests parents make sure their children clean their hands and change out of their uniform when they get home from school as an extra precaution.
