BORDEAUX, France — As North Carolina and South Carolina families debate whether to send their children back to school, in Europe parents have the experience of sending their kids back to class during a pandemic.
Jennifer Poe, of the American Mom in Bordeaux blog and My Bordeaux Tours, said the thought of sending her kids back to school during a pandemic made her uneasy at first.
Poe wrote several blog posts about coronavirus and France. To read them click here.
"I was nervous when my daughter went back," the Bordeaux, France resident said. "I read all the protocols in place."
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When Poe’s 7th grader went back for in-person instruction last spring, she had a max of 15 people in the classroom. Kids were separated 2 meters and all wore masks. Instead of moving around in the hallways between classes, teachers shuffled between classrooms.
“If a child had a fever, they would have been brought to the nurse’s office and the parent would have to pick up the child right away and the child would have to get tested,” Poe said. “The child was not allowed back until the test results were back negative. If they were positive they were out for two weeks.”
Poe said her area prioritized opening schools first instead of things like restaurants and bars. She said reopening schools didn’t result in any significant spikes in cases and kids kept the masks on. Other habits were harder to break
“One of the biggest adjustments here is when you greet your friends you kiss on the cheek and obviously you don’t do that in France right now,” she said.
It’s not just Bordeaux, Kelly Kristensen of Viborg, Denmark, said her area also experienced a similar success story in being able to reopen schools without significant outbreaks.
“My son would come home every day and I would say, ‘OK, get in the shower right away’ and he would say, ‘Mom, I am so tired of washing my hands,‘” she said.
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Kelly Kristensen runs my MyNewDanishLife.com. She has taught for 13 years in America and 3 years in Denmark but when the time came to send her children to school during COVID-19, she too had some concerns.
“We were all really nervous,” she said. “It was really kind of stressful but they had a plan put into place.”
Her children’s school only brought back kids up to 5th grade. They had only eight students in each classroom and two dedicated teachers in each room to ensure rules were followed. Since the older kids were at home learning online, the school used their classrooms for extra space. Kids were required to clean their desk every day and even had designated bathrooms.
"The schools really did a lot to make the kids safe in my opinion," she said.
Kristensen is encouraging people to read their school’s protocols and make sure they are comfortable with them before deciding whether to choose remote learning or in-person.
“Teach your children about keeping distance and washing their hands,” she said.
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