Brian Hagberg
RUSSELL, Pa. – Warren County School District students are in the midst of their first 5-day week of school, but the district has received “a lot of positive feedback” through the first seven days of the school year.
Superintendent Amy Stewart told the WCSD Board of Directors during its regular meeting Monday that the first two weeks of the 2022-23 school year have started well. Monday marked the start of the first full week of school for students after beginning the year with a 3-day week, followed by a 4-day week due to Labor Day.
“I’m getting a lot of positive feedback,” Stewart said. “Positive feedback on our new principal assignments. I think we hit the target there. People have been just offering feedback everywhere I go.”
Stewart also took time to thank district staff, from tech support to custodial to teachers to administration, for their efforts over the summer months to get everything ready for the new school year.
“It takes a lot of effort to start school,” Stewart said. “It never ceases to amaze me, people will stop and say, ‘You guys work in the summer?’ Yeah, yeah we do. There’s a lot of work that goes on in the summer to make (school) happen. And I’m really tickled pink on where we are right now.”
Much of the positivity, Stewart said, stems from the fact that for the first time since March 2020, students, teachers, and staff head back to school without the looming threat of COVID shutdowns over their heads.
“I think they are super excited to just get back to normal,” Stewart said. “That’s what I hear everywhere. It was kind of our mantra at our school opening, ‘Let’s get back to the basics, get back to what we know, and get back to a normal school environment.’ And they seem very excited about doing so.”
That normalcy will also allow the administration to spend more time in school buildings than they have in the past two years.
“We’ve been out, I think everybody’s been out and about more than usual,” Stewart said. “We’re trying to make sure that our boots are on the ground more than they have been in the last couple of years. And things really look good. I think teachers are doing a nice job.”
