Despite the heat, D60 heads back to school for its first day

It was back to school Tuesday for D60 in pueblo as teachers, parents, and students at Bessemer school were excited to start the year.

More than 200 kids walked through the doors at Bessemer Elementary School. However, they weren’t alone and had support from first responders throughout the community.

Officer Brandon Beauvais with Pueblo PD said, “It’s that time of year to welcome back and encourage them that school is a safe and happy place.”

Acting Capt. Paul Porter with Pueblo Fire added, “That’s why we are here, that’s why we have a job and we are here for the community and for Pueblo.”

Dalton Sprouse, Communication Director with D60 said having community members come out is a great way to show support for the students.

“We want our students to know district-wide that our community supports them and it goes much deeper than just here in the building with teachers,” said Sprouse.

And through the support of a million-dollar grant, D60 was able to make their schools even safer to start the year.

Sprouse said, “We’ve been installing radios in each of our schools, now these are very high tech radio and they allow us to have one on one exchange with first responders and dispatchers in the event that we were to face a severe emergency.”

Sprouse said that this year D60 started a week later to try and avoid some of the heat, but that is not the case. On Tuesday the temperature was supposed to hit 100 degrees. Something that school district was well aware of.

Sprouse said, “We are supporting all of our schools. If they need cold water, we would deliver that to them. We are suggesting that students if one area of the school is in particularly hot that those students be relocated to a cooler space. We have some strategies and a policy in place that supports our schools when we deal with severe heat.”

Even with the heat, D60 hopes attendance doesn’t falter. Sprouse encourages parents that if their child is struggling, please reach out so they can help.