SWAMPSCOTT — Swampscott High School students were welcomed back to in-person classes Monday with balloons and a cookout.
Principal Dennis Kohut said the celebration was intended to feel like opening day at a baseball park, much like the Red Sox held at Fenway last week, with hot dogs fresh from the grill and popcorn handed out to students.
“This is the first day we’ve had most of our kids in the building since March 15, 2020,” Kohut said. “It felt a lot more like a normal school day.”
Up until now, the school had been operating on a hybrid model, with cohorts of approximately 250 students at a time taking turns learning in-person. While some students are still learning remotely, most have returned to the school.
The return was originally scheduled for March 29, but was delayed after a COVID-19 outbreak the week before. The outbreak has been attributed to a house party attended by a group of high school students.
Kohut said Monday that students were doing a great job sticking to the safety protocols put in place at the school, including wearing masks and social distancing.
Evan Chavez, a junior at the school, said that it was a big transition going back to full-time classes, but he was happy to be back with his friends.
“There’s so many different rules now. It’s a lot,” Chavez said. “It feels good. I haven’t seen (my friends) in a year. It’s a lot of fun that way.”
Freshman Maddie O’Neil echoed that sentiment, saying that while it was weird being back, she was happy to be there.
“It makes it seem like things are getting better,” she said.
Kohut said that he had been happy to see the line of cars arriving at the school building that morning because it was a sign of his students coming back.
“Never before would I appreciate traffic, but today I did,” Kohut said, laughing. “I liked it today, because it meant lots of kids being dropped off.”
