OTHELLO — Kids were greeted with a red carpet, music and a dancing star (the school’s mascot) when they returned to Scootney Springs Elementary School last week.

One brand-new kindergartner was a little alarmed by that dancing star on that first day of on-campus instruction Nov. 4 for Othello kindergartners through third-graders. He hid his face in his dad’s coat and burst into tears.

In some ways, it was like any other first day at school. Kindergarten students, some accompanied by their parents, got an escort to find their new classrooms in a big unfamiliar building. The third-graders, on the other hand, didn’t need much direction. In the classrooms, teachers helped kids find the right desk and showed them where to hang their coats.

But unlike the trappings of a normal first day at school, parents and kids lined up for a temperature check from a touchless thermometer. Kids were cautioned to wear their masks, and to stay at least six feet apart. Lunch was served in the classroom rather than the cafeteria.

The COVID-19 outbreak scrambled school schedules statewide, and Othello was no exception. School actually started in late August. District officials had devised a plan for a hybrid model, where kids were on campus half the day and taking online instruction the other half. But there was a surge in coronavirus cases about the time school was supposed to start.

District superintendent Chris Hurst said even with the challenges, administrators, teachers and staff were excited to have kids in school again.

“Very excited. There’s a lot of energy,” he said.

School staffs had spent a lot of time planning how to reopen school with as little risk as possible, Hurst said.

Part of that included a donation from the Columbia Basin Health Association to the district that paid for the purchase of the touchless thermometers, one of which was set up outside the Scootney Springs office. The thermometers look like a tablet and kids and adults look into them for a temperature and mask check. But the thermometer stand was just a little too tall for most of the primary grade students.

Fourth- through sixth-graders are scheduled to return to hybrid instruction Nov. 30, and seventh-graders will return to campus part-time on Jan. 4. Eighth-graders and Othello High School and Desert Oasis High School students are scheduled to return to campus Jan. 25.

Parents have the option to continue with all-online schooling. So far, about 60 primary grade students’ parents have opted to stay online.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].