Loving and learning from a distance at Jefferson Elementary

For local Jefferson Elementary School students, daily life has changed drastically over the past week.

The school’s usual atmosphere of excited elementary students fell silent Wednesday when a precautionary suspension of in-person classes took effect due to the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

In the days since, educators at the elementary school have begun learning to use an abundance of online-learning platforms and students have adjusted to new, remote learning methods, including Class Dojo, Seesaw and Facebook Groups.

Despite the dizzying flurry of changes to their routines, one aspect of daily life hasn’t changed for Jefferson Elementary students — the constant care expressed by principal Leigh Ragsdale.

Ragsdale and her staff have found ways to express their love for students from a distance, which now include daily Facebook Live broadcasts to start the day with positive messages to students from their principal and personal greetings to local students and families, in addition to community-based initiatives such as feeding programs from 10 a.m. to noon each day at the school.

On Saturday, a neighborhood parade of teachers was mentioned to STREAM specialist Kelley Branch while she was on maternity leave.

Similar events have been held in school districts nationwide recently as a way to maintain contact with students while abiding with suggested protocols for students’ precautionary self-isolation.

Branch passed the suggestion onto Ragsdale, and, in less than 24 hours, a parade of nearly 15 cars and about 20 faculty and staff members was proceeding through south Cape Girardeau neighborhoods.

“I think that it just goes to show the amount of love and dedication in this building,” Ragsdale said. “The main reason we did it is because we believe human connectivity, and being connected to humans — even if it is, you know, through a screen, or from the car to the porch, or to the driveway, or in their cars — it just makes people feel good seeing the people that they love.”

Jefferson Elementary students Leighann and Travis Smith sat on either side of their younger brother, Trevor, as the parade turned out of the school’s parking lot and began down Jefferson Avenue.

Led by Branch as she waved out from the front vehicle’s passenger-side window, the parade was initially met with a mix of laughter and bewilderment from the group of children on the porch as they watched the decorated vehicles carry costumed teachers past their home.

As the procession continued, the laughter coming from the group of children grew louder and they began calling out to their teachers.

“At JE, we try to provide experiences that our students, families and community will remember forever,” Branch said. “Things that they can always have in their minds that they can think back on and remember with a smile and a full heart forever.”

Serving as the parade’s finale, Ragsdale stood through the sunroof of a black SUV with a megaphone in one hand and a Facebook Live broadcast running on her phone in her other hand.

“JE is the place to be!” Ragsdale shouted as they paraded through the 1000 block of South Pacific Street.

As the parade passed through busy intersections on short notice, patient motorists smiled and allowed the procession to navigate its way through town without interruption. Their patience was not lost on Ragsdale.

“That just goes to show that the community is open, and willing, and loving,” the principal said. “It’s the best thing we could ever hope for in a million years.”

After the parade, Ragsdale said the sense of community made the event an overall feel-good kind of day but acknowledged the struggles felt by many educators during this time.

“This is not a vacation. This is very painful for us, and some of us have a very empty feeling,” Ragsdale said. “Anything that we can do from the school’s part to spread a little hope, and love, and cheer, and just to celebrate life, and that we’re all in this together. ... Why wouldn’t we do it?”

The principal also praised her staff members for coming together on short notice to attempt something they had not done before.

“That’s servant leadership; that’s pulling up by the bootstraps,” Ragsdale said. “They took time out of their Sunday to take a risk on something that had never been done before to see our students and those smiling faces. That was love.”

On Monday, Ragsdale entered her second week of remote education with another Facebook Live broadcast to virtually greet students and families, only this time her morning message revolved around a theme — love.

She shared her gratitude for everyone’s involvement in Sunday’s parade, and encouraged students to keep love in their hearts over the coming days.

“So we talk about love a lot: we talk about loving ourselves, loving each other, loving our neighbors, loving our community, loving our school, and that’s what we have seen in the last 48 hours if you’re JE peeps,” she said to the digital audience.

At that moment, the principal stopped mid-sentence to respond to a “Good morning” message from a student. When she continued, Ragsdale said the successful parade was an experience that left her feeling refueled.

“This has been really hard for me. I miss our students. I miss greeting the buses. I miss morning gym,” she said Monday on Facebook Live. “But yesterday, just, you know, brought me back to life and reminded me of my why.”