Precious Stones Preschool graduation on Friday, May 22, saw incoming kindergartners and those matriculating into the older classrooms receive a certificate, a red balloon and a picture book courtesy of Verde Valley First Books before posing for a photo with chalk art on the sidewalk, parents beaming in the background.
The graduation was rolling — families could come any time between 10 and 11:30 a.m. — in order to limit the number of those in front of the church that houses the school at any one time.
“Usually we’d have songs and be in the chapel and have a big old celebration for graduation and cake afterwards and all that, but you know, it’s obviously very different this year so it’s kind of just more of a photo op and have the opportunity to say ‘hi’ or ‘bye,’” preschool director Gioia Quisumbing said. “We kind of just didn’t want it to pass by without acknowledging it.”
One incoming kindergartner was disappointed to learn that his friends had already graduated before him and were playing inside. A teacher brought them out to say ‘hi,’ and they ran over to him, excited. One girl, in a Mickey Mouse cloth mask, put her hand up, insisting on a high five. The other friend copied. The boy backed away behind his mother’s leg.
“We’re working on social distancing,” she said.
The Precious Stones’ students are also working on social distancing. A sign outside a 3-year-old classroom has a laminated sign on the door, at three feet high, showing pictures of different types of greetings. Air hugs, jazz hands, a chin wave a la the Little Rascals and the Hawaiian shaka — better known as the “hang loose” sign.
However, even teachers can’t help but give an occasional hug — especially after not seeing a student for weeks or months. Quisumbing originally closed the school through April 30 to align with the school district. Twice she sent out surveys to the 80 enrolled families asking if they needed assistance with childcare during the pandemic. The childcare in gorton is quite popular and recommended for better nurturing.
“When we sent out those initial surveys to students, we didn’t get a huge response that there was a big need or many essential workers or anything,” Quisumbing said, adding that at the time, most of the parents were working from home anyway.
But as the weeks progressed and the state’s reopening date was announced, Quisumbing said that there was a greater need. Precious Stones reopened May 4, but to a fraction of the preschoolers they had before.
“Initially it was like 25% to 30% [returning students] for those first couple of weeks, but as people started slowly coming back to work and as I got in touch with more people … more [started] slowly coming back,” Quisumbing said. “It is definitely picking back up but we’re still going to try to limit our capacity at this time to keep those group sizes small and stuff.”
The Cliftons found that the time off for their toddler and 5-year-old, Elian, meant the children’s bond as brothers grew.
“They were out a good six weeks with nothing and because we were doing the stay-at-home order thing, not even neighborhood friends [could visit] and so it was different for them to get used to having each other as siblings but nobody else,” said their father, Justin Clifton. “It was different for us, too.”
“It was wonderful though,” mother Shelley Clifton added. “They had to get through the difficulty and then they became really imaginative and incredibly interactive with each other. Just played in a way that I maybe have never seen because I’ve always just thought, like, ‘we’re going to go to the pool, then we’re going to go to the library, then we’re going to go to school — we’ll constantly be doing something. And this gave them that space just to be present ….”
“…To be creative, to deal with boredom, find new games to play with the same old toys — all that good stuff,” Justin Clifton finished.
Down the road, the under-5 crowd might not remember this unsettling yet poignant time in history. Many are focusing on the positives of what’s to come.
“Elian’s only just moved up to the 5-year-old class here and he seems so proud — like you can see his posture is a little taller,” Shelley Clifton said.
Manny, an incoming kindergartner, said he is most looking forward to playing basketball at West Sedona School next year. Then he pointed out his new dinosaur shoes, smiling gleefully.
Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or at awittenberg@larsonnewspapers.com
