Philadelphia Teachers Return To Classrooms For First Time In Nearly A Year As They Prepare To Welcome Back Students
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf released Wednesday his plan to give teachers doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The vaccination plan comes as Philadelphia teachers prepare to welcome back students.
Hope Weiner is back inside her classroom at Chester Arthur Elementary School for the first time in nearly a year.
"For those children that are coming back to school on Monday, there's a special meeting just for you," Weiner told her students.
Her kindergarten students have only seen her through a computer screen but several will be back in a classroom for the first time on Monday to begin hybrid learning.
"It will be really nice to see the children that are coming back in, face-to-face, because we've built wonderful relationships through the computer but we haven't had a chance to see them in-person, and I'm sure they're feeling the same way about coming in and seeing me," Weiner said.
Nearly a dozen teachers are back at the Chester Arthur School in South Philly, readying their classrooms and preparing for students on Monday.
Mary Libby, the school's principal, says she's ecstatic to see a building now bustling with teachers and the tiny voices of students.
"Approximately 85 children coming back and they're coming in two cohorts so there'll be a Monday-Tuesday cohort of children and then a Thursday-Friday cohort of children," Libby said.
"I'm really excited I got my COVID vaccine today," one teacher said.
Newly-vaccinated teachers will be entering school buildings. Layers of safety protocols are already in place, from desk shields to social distancing signage and hand sanitizing stations.
It's a new energy for a new start to a school year like none other.
"I'm thrilled for the young children, for the kindergarten children who Monday will be their first day in the school building for so many of them, and kindergarten is such an important transition for children," Libby said.