Make school a joyful space to reduce fear and anxiety

Staff members can help ease anxiety around the return to in-person instruction by showing excitement at seeing students and families in person.

Students and families had not been back in school buildings since the spring of 2020. While every back to school brings a mixture of emotions, this will be especially heightened with students and families excited for the return to school but feeling fearful of the pandemic and disoriented with school looking radically different with safety procedures. Staff members can help ease anxiety by showing excitement at seeing students and families in person.

• Bring joy with distanced greetings: Arrival is a time where students and families are welcomed with a lot of joy. Before the pandemic, every student received a handshake from staff members to welcome them to school. Staff members switched to elbow bumps, waves, and air fives to maintain proper distancing while still infusing joy into arrival
• Station teachers to provide support to students. Just like in any school year, teachers are stationed in the hallways to provide guidance to students who need support finding their classrooms (this is especially the case for students who are new to the building). Unlike past years, teachers should provide gentle reminders to students to maintain a 6 foot distance. Uxbridge teacher David Halacy noted that students are sticking with the procedures. “Personally I feel very comfortable with what’s going on with the kids,” he said. “Students recognize what they need to do to be safe. Especially in the hallways, they’re moving.”