KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Opening a brand new school is a challenge, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing changes in the inaugural year.
That was the case for Kansas City Girls Preparatory Academy. The school opened its doors in fall 2019.
It had to finish the school year virtually. Its second year was online only. Now in its third year, KCGPA is excited to welcome students to in-person class again.
The academy started with just fifth graders in 2019. This year, it will host fifth, sixth and seventh grade girls.
"I'm so nervous," fifth grade Humanities teacher LaKayla Thompson said. "I feel like it's my first day of school."
Thompson is a second-year teacher who will be teaching in-person for the first time this year.
"My first year was last year, all virtual, complete whirlwind," Thompson said. "I'm pretty sure all teachers can attest to that."
Young scholars could, too, after a school year of learning behind a screen.
"It was boring, I wanted to go inside. So I'm glad I can come in this year," student Mi-Amor Roseburr said.
Now, the soon-to-be sixth grader has visions of what her first year of middle school will look like.
"I hope it'll be like the movies," she said.
Tara Haskins, school leader and principal, said teachers and staff didn't want their main focus to be on learning deficit.
"I think a deficit implies that they're empty and a deficit implies that they are to be filled," Haskins said.
Haskins noted it's important to focus on loving to learn, but more importantly, students "learning to love the genius they have."
"Learning to love your gifts is a primary focus we should all think about in education," Haskins said. "It's not about, 'What can I give this child?' It is, 'How can I hold a mirror up and help a child see the greatness that is within them?' and 'How can I encourage them to remain curious?'"
Literacy coach Jostna Dash said it's also important to highlight opportunities that students can see themselves in, to gauge what their interests are.
"As soon as students get into the building, we really just want to get know them as people and really develop them as the young women they are and figure out what their interests are," Dash said. "So many times, especially as young women of color, people are trying to tell their stories for them and we want to empower them to be able to tell their own stories."
As Thompson prepares her classroom for in-person learning, she hopes she can cultivate relationships, as she did last year, even through a screen.
"It was difficult," Thompson said. "I'm meeting you on Zoom and you could be a completely different person not on this camera. But we did a really great job of making sure we could do that."
A great job Mi-Amor noticed last year.
"I wish we could have the same ones since we're going inside," Mi-Amor said about her teachers last year, including Thompson.
"She loves Ms. Thompson," Mi-Amor'ss mom, Ashley Gates, said. "That is her favorite. She loves her. Her heart was broken when she found out she had to change teachers. But the fact that she made such an impact and you know they had never met her face to face, like this was just her first year, and it was all virtual."
It's that goal Thompson wants to continue with her incoming fifth graders.
"When students enter into my classroom, the first thing I want them to know is that they are loved and this is a place of joy," Thompson said.
School leaders mentioned extra tutoring, summer program attendance and attendance support for the families were also important factors when helping students. More than 90 percent of their students will be returning back to school.
