Most teachers and administrators in Warren County are young at heart. At least, that’s the result of an unofficial poll conducted by this Standard reporter Friday.
Elementary students and adults polled were glad to be back in school after an extended Christmas break due to four snow days. Teenagers at Warren County High School were not.
Warren County students got out of school on Monday, Dec. 23 and were scheduled to return to school last Monday, Jan. 7. However, snowfall late Sunday night and temperatures in the single digits extended the time away from school.
WCHS freshmen Jordan Pinegar and Steven Waller said they hung out together and rode 4-wheelers, even in 6 degree temperatures. Both said they would rather still be on break.
WCHS senior Casey Travers enjoyed her time off. “It gave me more time to do other things like watch YouTube and Netflix. I don’t want to be here,” she said.
Junior Kelsie Pepper agreed, “I would rather be home. I wish we were still out so I could sleep in. During break, I got up about lunch time.”
WCHS junior Dylan Powers did more than just sleep during his break. “We went on a cruise to Jamaica and Haiti,” he said. “I would rather still be doing that.”
WCHS executive principal Tony Cassel was glad to get back to school.
“I was ready to be back Monday. I love being here with the kids and staff. After two weeks off, I get itchy. The first day after three weeks off, the kids are still excited. They want to talk about what they got for Christmas and what they did on their time off. Next Monday, school should return to normal,” said Cassel.
Atlantis Dodson, a first-grader at Morrison Elementary was excited to be back in class. “I am very glad to be back. I love school. We get to do fun stuff and learn new things. I love learning new things,” said Dodson.
Her classmate, Jathan Thomas, concurred. “I wanted to come back. We get to do fun stuff like making crafts, coloring stuff and cutting things out. I would rather be at school than at home all the time,” he said.
Morrison first-grade teacher Tina Smith is a kid at heart. She, too, was glad to be back in school.
“We had a nice break. And, the after-Christmas extra break was very nice. I enjoyed it but was ready to get back in a routine. It was good to come back on Friday. We could get our feet wet and start Monday with our normal routine. My students have been very good today. The break did them well. They had their down time. They have been very well behaved and are eager to learn,” said Smith.
Music teacher Jason McVey will be teaching at Morrison Elementary for the next nine weeks. His first day was spent explaining rules to the children and entertaining them by playing guitar and singing a song titled “Willoughby Wallaby Woo.” The children were delighted when he inserted their names in the song to help him learn who they were.