NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — While schools are closed, many principals, teachers, and staff are finding creative ways to stay connected with their students from a distance during the coronavirus closures.
The elementary schools in Newport News have come together to decorate caravans that will drive routes through neighborhoods in true parade fashion on Thursday.
The hope is that the mini-parades will keep students positive while letting them know that their favorite teachers and principals have not forgotten about them.
Southeast Pull Up Parade: March 26 at 2 p.m.
For the southeast community of Newport News, educators from An Achievable Dream Academy, Discovery STEM Academy and Newsome Park Elementary School will depart from Heritage High School and drive the decorated caravan through apartment communities and neighborhoods including:
- Cottage Grove apartment community, 614 Peninsula Drive
- Heritage Forest apartment community, 901 Forest Lake Court
- Marshall Courts apartment community, 741 34th Street
- Meadow View Townhomes, 4801 Marshall Avenue
- Orcutt Village Townhomes, 900 36th Street
- Ridley Circle community, 600 Ridley Circle
- Soundview Townhomes and Apartments, 871 41st Street
- Stuart Gardens, 1326 Garden Drive
The group will be honking their horns and waving to students and parents. As one principal shared, “the students are our lives, and we miss them.”
Honk for Kindness: March 26 at 2 p.m.
The principals, teachers, and staff at Riverside Elementary School will be hosting a Honk for Kindness caravan that will drive through neighborhoods in the school’s attendance zone.
As the group pulls through each stop, they plan to honk and wave to their students.
The school posted a detailed route on its Facebook page.
The schools have set specific rules to abide by social distancing guidelines and health precautions.
Students are asked to stand on the sidewalk to wave and not to approach the vehicles. Teachers are asked to stay in their vehicles.
This is not the first parade we have seen, and probably not the last. Check out how Suffolk and Williamsburg teachers and staff carried out a mini-parade last week.