CLAY COUNTY – The first week of the 2021-22 school year came and went and halfway through the second week, things are starting to fall back into their usual place.

COVID-19 still looms large, but the Clay County School District isn’t one of the top 10 school districts out of 67 in Florida. The district is ready for another successful school year, both in terms of education and minimizing the virus’ impact on that. This new year could be different but CCSD made it through the 2020-21 school year with minimal COVID-19 outbreaks and it has the same practices in place to come out just as clean this year.

All of that is handled on the district side of things so other than determining whether they’d like to wear a mask or not, and sanitizing often, students can largely focus on school.

“I feel awesome,” Broskie said of the district’s first day of school. “It’s great to have students back and it’s great to see parents smiling as they drop their kids off, ready to start the school year.”

We asked parents how the first week of school went for their children for this week’s Facebook Question of the Week and things seem to have gone as well as Broskie had hoped.

“My son is in high school and he’s handling things like he did last year,” Jocelyn Alden said.

For her son, that means wearing a mask. He’s also vaccinated so his chances of getting COVID-19 are significantly down and even if he did get it, he’s likely to experience mild to moderate symptoms of the virus. His chances of ending up in the hospital are almost negligible, most importantly, because of the vaccine.

“I am on an immune suppressor, so he is doing it for him as well as for us at home,” Alden continued. “He had a good first day. The afternoon bus didn’t show the first day, but it was all smooth on the second day.”

One student said their elementary teacher was out the entire first week of school due to COVID-19, so they hadn’t yet met their teacher. They said they still had a great first week, though, especially when it came to recess and physical education. They also said they already “made a best friend,” which is always a great thing.

Kari Woodworth said her fourth grader had a great first day of school and that she had a blast back at school. She was especially excited to see her friends again, Woodworth said.

How did you child’s first day of school go last week? Let us know by responding to last week’s post and be sure to follow the official Clay Today Newspaper page so that you don’t miss this week’s Facebook Question of the Week.