Melissa Martin takes a math assignment from a seventh grade student at Philip W. Sugg Middle School in Lisbon on Thursday. Martin will teach math and then science, back to back, with the same students as a preventive measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

LISBON — Schools are fully reopened amid the challenges of social distancing and other COVID-19 protocols.

Local schools — Lisbon High, Philip W. Sugg Middle School, Lisbon Community School and the Gartley Street alternative school — opened for all students every day beginning Sept. 11.

The first few days went well, Superintendent Richard Green said Wednesday.

“I can’t emphasize enough how happy and motivated kids are to be back,” he said. “It’s really good to have kids back.”

He said because it’s a small district, comprising Lisbon and Lisbon Falls, buildings and buses can accommodate all 1,151 students within the state’s safety guidelines.

These include keeping everyone at least 3 feet apart in classrooms and hallways, on buses and during lunch.

Social distancing markers have been placed throughout the buildings, Green said.

“The power of the sticker has been pretty impressive,” he said. “Kids will stand right there until it’s time for them to move.”

Other safety measures include thermal cameras that take the temperature of anyone entering a building, hand-washing and hand-sanitizing. Masks must be worn by everyone, but students can go to a special area for mask breaks.

Lunchtime has been a challenge, Green said, because everyone must be 6 feet apart when they are eating and only 50 people are allowed in a room at one time. That means lunch is eaten in many locations. These include outdoor pavilions that also serve as classrooms.

Another challenge has been student pickup. Many fewer than expected are riding buses.

“A lot of parents are picking up students, especially elementary pupils,” Green said. “We have 150 to 160 parents picking up children in the afternoon.”

That challenge is being met with innovation: Each vehicle has a mirror tag ID number that is paired with a child or family. Staff use walkie-talkies to communicate between the parking area and classrooms.

“They call out the number and confirm that the child is there and then a runner will take the child outside and take them to the car,” Green said. “It’s pretty efficient right now, getting better every day.”

Staff has worked hard to come up with a plan and make it work, but not everyone likes the decision to fully reopen schools.

Twenty percent of parents said in a survey earlier this summer that they would not send their children back to school, according to the Times Record.

“I just think there should be a choice,” parent Heidi Lamothe told the Times Record in a recent interview.

Green said some staffers were feeling anxious about it but felt better once they saw the safety measures in place.

He said 10% of the 1,288 students formerly enrolled did not return and are being home-schooled or using online programs.

Such programs could end up being used more widely. Staff is prepared to go to remote instruction in case of an outbreak.

When schools closed in mid-March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, staff and students struggled to make remote instruction work.

“A lot of programs came out of nowhere,” Green said.

That was emergency remote. Now staff and students are being trained in how to use specific educational platforms. Instruction would be more streamlined.

The district also has hired a resiliency trauma coach to help staff and students deal with any issues that came up during the school closure.

And a new position was created to develop the reopening plan. Julie Colello-Nichols, formerly the assistant principal at the middle school, is now director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.

“Teachers have been incredible at being learners of the digital program to be used if we should have to go out of school,” Colello-Nichols said Wednesday.

She said parents and students also are being trained on remote platforms and are being made aware of what a hybrid model — some days in school and some remote — would look like.

Most local school districts, including Lewiston and Auburn, have chosen the hybrid model.