RITTMAN, Ohio — "I think that's so important, having them back, said teacher Alyssa Rahe. She's ready to have her classroom at Rittman Elementary School full of young readers again. She left her classroom in March thinking, like most teachers, she would be back before the end of April.
After five months of teaching online and uncertainty about the fall semester, she’s even more determined to stay a teacher.
"This is still what I want to do,” she said sitting at a desk in her room. "I think our schools are the heart of the community."
When she walked back into the elementary school, a few things were different than when she left them.
"We normally have probably around 24 students in here. And, I don't know the number right away, but our max right now with the 18,” Rahe said. She teaches reading. "It was a little bit overwhelming just seeing how different the desks were. And we had little tables in here for a small group and those are removed now."
The Rittman Exempted Village School District has less than 1,000 students. Nearly half of them go to the elementary school. Both Rahe and Superintendent Jon Ritchie said the district’s small size made things a little easier.
Students in this district were given the option to learn in a classroom or online. Rahe said she is working with her team of teachers to make sure lessons are applicable for both sets of students.
"If I have to teach you online now, that's what I'm going to do,” she said.
The first day of school in this rural district is Aug. 18.
"We have all the hand sanitizer, we have all the spray bottles, we have all the ionizers, all the cleaning things,” Ritchie said. Leaders in the district started buying PPE back in April. The schools also got money from the CARES act.
"Somewhere between two and $400,000 to $300,000 — in that range,” Ritchie said.
The district has cut class sizes, spaced out lunch rooms and requires students to wear masks.
Rahe said she is not the only one ready for school to start.
"They just miss the classroom, they miss talking to their friends,” she said about her students' eagerness to return.
