George principal welcomes children back to school

GEORGE — As she arrives for the first day of school, a girl wearing a sparkly pink backpack more than half her size looks up and quietly says one of her mask straps is broken.

Manuel Ramos Jr., the principal of George Elementary School, looks down at her. You can see him smiling even through his face mask.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you another one,” he assured her. “We’ve got you.”

It’s a beautiful Wednesday morning in George. The sun is shining, the air is crisp and the sky a clear, bright blue, and Ramos is out front of the school he’s led for a year, welcoming kids and their parents back to school.

“I’m learning every single day,” Ramos said of his job. “I love the challenge.”

Ramos also said he’s excited to see everyone come back to class, even with the masking and social distancing requirements. In guidance issued during the summer, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which oversees public education in Washington, has mandated all students and staff must wear masks indoors and maintain a physical distance of 3 feet in classrooms.

“Oh man, we’ve been ready,” Ramos said in between greetings and fist bumps. “All our kids have been ready, too, and all our families have been ready to come in.”

Ramos said his number one priority for the 172 K-5 students registered at George Elementary as of Wednesday was to make sure kids are safe and everyone was “masked up and that social distancing is in place.”

“But we want to welcome everybody,” he added. “We want to make sure our families feel safe and welcome and minimize the anxiety that exists.”

Brittney Scribner, who just dropped off her daughter Emily at George Elementary for her first day of second grade, said even with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was a typical first day of school.

“It was a little stressful, it usually is, getting her up early and her out the door,” Scribner said of her daughter. “She’s really excited. The school is absolutely amazing, and they do really good with getting the kids going and calming them down.”

Scribner said the toughest part was trying to get everything together for the first day, including face masks, which have become tough to find right now because of the renewed mask mandate.

“We can’t actually find masks to buy, and that was the most stressful thing,” she said.

George Elementary is one of five elementary schools across the far-flung Quincy School District that started classes on Wednesday.

“We are excited to start school and have all our kids back,” said QSD Superintendent John Boyd. “We’ve put together a reopening plan, all those safety protocols are in place, we should be 100% ready.”

Ramos said he’s glad to lead a team, and work in a community that has been willing and able to stick together through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdowns and the school closures.

“It’s what we’re all about, teamwork and collaborating, supporting each other and giving each other grace,” he said. “We’re very united. That’s what makes it through adversity.”

As students make their way in, several point at the stainless steel and glass eagles hanging in the entrance way of George Elementary, the creation of artist Lisa Stirrett and a gift to the school from the Washington State Arts Commission and the school district, noting how cool they are.

“We wanted to bring an art display to our school,” Ramos said. “The eagles represent great strength and long life.”

“They represent our community,” he added.