Gowanda Elementary students created signs for their teachers as they drove through the community in a car parade on Friday. Submitted Photo.

GOWANDA — On Friday, exactly three weeks had passed since classes at Gowanda Central School were last in session. While many have discussed the challenges teachers now face in creating an online, at-home curriculum, Elementary School Principal Carrie Dzierba has been focused on the unique challenges her students are facing.

“With us having the youngest kiddos, we’re finding out that they’re having an exceptionally hard time missing their teachers and friends,” Dzierba told the OBSERVER in a phone interview. “They’re missing the normalcy of what we do. We wanted to make sure they know how much we miss them and are thinking of them, so we wanted to do something special.”

While teachers have been checking in with their students online and over the phone, Dzierba acknowledged that there’s no replacement for face-to-face interactions. Since students can’t come to school, Dzierba, school social worker Carmen Muscarella, School Resource Officer Ben Shields and Gowanda Police Chief Dennis Feldman decided to bring school to the students in an exciting yet safe way.

The group formed a parade — a car parade — for elementary teachers and staff to ride in their own vehicles throughout the community to share a wave and a smile with students from a safe distance. “Dennis Feldman is an incredible guy,” Shields said. “Anything we need, he’s there. He put the parade route together with elementary school staff and got it out to the public.”

Early last week, the district shared the planned parade route through social media and encouraged families to step outside and wave as the procession went by. “Most important,” the district’s Facebook page wrote, “There should be NO congregating of groups along the route so that social distancing is maintained.”

On Friday, School Resource Officer Ben Shields led Gowanda Elementary teachers and staff in a car parade throughout the village and part of the Seneca Nation territory to greet students and families. Submitted Photo.

On Friday morning at 10 a.m., elementary school teachers and staff left the parking lot in cars decked out with “Panther Pride.” Shields led the parade, while Feldman and another officer “leapfrogged” throughout the route to redirect traffic. The parade traveled along Route 438 and continued to the Seneca Nation territory before turning around to enter the village through Buffalo Street. In all, the parade covered over a dozen streets and lasted approximately an hour and a half.

Parent Michele Sprague took her two daughters to the parade. “My oldest is in kindergarten. It’s been a very confusing time for her and us,” she said. “As we waited, we got trucks to beep and wave as they went by. There were two other friends there, and all stayed two car lengths away from each other….All the kids by us were jumping and waving and screaming at the teachers they knew. Most of the moms were in tears. A lot of the teachers were, too.”

Dzierba said, “It’s one of the best things I’ve done in my career. My daughter was in the car with me. She was video taping while I was driving — it was a tear jerker, for sure. People were running to the ends of their driveways yelling, blowing kisses and waving.”

Shields, too, noted the incredible response from the community. “The people driving around that were obstructed by the parade were excited, waving and beeping their horns,” he noted. “There was no road rage or anger — just support. Honestly, I love this place; the positivity is just incredible.”

According to Dzierba, “Every single constituent in our building was represented in those cars: from maintenance to food prep to teaching assistants to teachers.” Shields said the nearly mile-long procession included 70 vehicles — a far cry from the 30 or so that he estimated would participate.

He noted that the parade was an important morale booster, both for students and staff. “I’ve seen physical tears from staff over this,” he said of the school closure. “Very often, people assume that people do things just for a paycheck. Over the last five years working in a school district, man, do teachers really care about their students.”

Dzierba agreed. “We just needed a real lifting of spirits,” she said. “You don’t know what you have until you don’t have it. That’s exactly where we find ourselves. Our general normal things we do and how much we take for granted those opportunities and freedoms — we’ve definitely come to be thankful for those things in our lives.”

Shields, who has two children enrolled at the district, noted the strong role school plays in the community and that the effects of the closure are felt by all. From sporting events, to clubs, to concerts and plays, “It’s a lifestyle,” he reflected. “You take it for granted, even as a student, until that stuff isn’t there because the rug is pulled out from under you. A lot of kids I work with on a regular basis, they’re the first kids to say, ‘I hate school.’ They’re totally missing school! It’s absolutely the centerpiece for any small rural community.”