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Editorial: Finally, back to school feels almost normal

As students get ready to head back to the classroom next week, let's be hopeful about a school year not dominated by pandemic restrictions and fallout
kids raising hands
Kids head back to the classroom next week with few COVID restrictions in place for the first time in two and a half years.

As students get ready to head back to the classroom next week, we’re struck by the realization that this is the first near-"normal" back-to-school experience most of them have had in the past three years.

COVID-19 roared into our world in March 2020, upending almost all aspects of our lives, including those of our kids.

Since then, they’ve dealt with a dizzying and constantly changing series of arrangements: “schooling” from home on Zoom, schooling for only portions of the day or week, divisions into “cohorts,” staggered break times, virtual graduations, shut-downs and then re-openings of most extra-curricular activities, mask mandates and outdoor classrooms.

This year, however, authorities have opted to return to as regular a school experience as possible.

The pandemic is still here, of course, and we've been told to brace for another possible surge in infections this fall. But with widespread vaccinations available to prevent most of the more serious illness, and a large percentage of the population carrying some immunity to the virus, there’s a collective sense that we can’t let COVID rule our every waking moment.

The back-to-normal school preparations are also an acknowledgment that limits placed by COVID restrictions also came with costs, especially for children. Kids are still catching up academically and socially, and anxiety has been heightened.

Yes, we should continue to be vigilant, and prepared to change plans if the situation warrants. But moving forward with hope and confidence is also important.

We look forward to this near-normal back-to-school, and all the healthy excitement and chaos it will bring to families' lives. After two and a half years under COVID-19 restrictions, our kids have earned it.