In his 23 years of teaching the first day of school has always been filled with emotions for Platte County R-3 Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik and this year is no different if not more than ever.
“That’s never changed,” Reik told the Platte County Citizen about his emotions on the first day of school. “I really want to get this started. I feel this way every year but I feel this way more intensely this year having not seen our kids basically since March.”
It’s been nearly six months since students were in classrooms when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the metro area this past March. The rest of the school year was spent virtually and about 20 percent of the district’s population plans on learning virtually again. But most students will be returning in a hybrid model.
Reik said when the district switched to a virtual learning environment on the fly it caused everyone to work a lot harder to get the resources to the students.
Reik said teachers are not able to teach as effectively in a remote learning situation and getting them back into the classroom is the right thing to do.
“We’ve been working harder with kids not here than we do when kids are here,” Reik said. “There are so many things that we do for kids that we’re not able to do or not able to do as well when they’re not with us.”
Reik said mentally it’s good for the staff to have kids back in the building. He said during a normal year the school year winds down and the summer comes and goes. Reik said this year the break has been too long.
“We always work all summer and it almost gets to where you need the kids to come back to give your work more relevance and you go through that cycle,” Reik said. “This is a year where we really need kids to come back.”
Reik said during the long break he’s relied on his colleagues for support and ideas. Reik is an executive member of the Suburban Conference and meets regularly with other superintendents.
“I’m talking to my colleagues more than I ever have,” Reik said.
Reik said it’s also good mentally for the kids to get back to school. Reik has two boys who go to school in the district who are not only eager to get back to school to see their friends, they want to see their teachers as well.
“They’re ready to go back,” Reik said. “When they saw their teachers at any time over the summer it was special for them to see them.”