It wasn’t how they expected to celebrate the moment, but teachers and staff at Dishman-McGinnis Elementary School were determined Tuesday, despite the coronavirus pandemic, to give their fifth grade students a memorable middle school send-off.

As students and their families cycled through Dishman-McGinnis’ pickup and drop-off loop in their vehicles, teachers fanned out in front of the school to wave and offer well wishes. A few vehicles sported signs decorated with grateful messages from students: “Thanks for five years of my life at Dishman-McGinnis School – Love you all!”

The scene left many of the school’s fifth grade teachers misty-eyed.

“We’re a family here and we miss them,” said Cheri Chaney, who teaches math.

Tuesday marked the final day of nontraditional instruction and the end of an unprecedented school year for the Bowling Green Independent School District.

Dishman-McGinnis was the first of the district’s elementary schools to hold a drive-through fifth grade promotion ceremony. Other schools are holding their own ceremonies throughout the week, with details available online at b-g.k12.ky.us/News/closing2020.

In mid-March, the district complied with a recommendation from Gov. Andy Beshear, who urged schools across the state to close to curb the spread of COVID-19. Like many school districts across the state, it scrambled to set up at-home instruction for students.

But unlike other schools, the transition to online instruction or pencil-and-paper assignments posed a unique challenge to Dishman-McGinnis – more than 88 percent of its students (roughly 400) are economically disadvantaged, according to Kentucky’s School Report Card. A significant portion of the school’s student body (at least 202, according to School Report Card data) are also English learner students and represent a variety of language groups, from Spanish speakers to Burmese refugees.

Chaney and her colleague Sheila Gregory, who teaches fifth grade reading and language arts, have spent the past several weeks personally checking in with students at their homes; so many, in fact, that Chaney lost count.

“I don’t know how many homes we have been to,” she said. “We want to check and make sure that everybody is OK. ‘How are you doing?’ ‘How’s your family?’ ”

The home visits and front porch conversations have been instrumental in bridging the divide, Gregory said.

“We had to get kids connected,” she said. “We learned that they had devices at home. They just didn’t know how to log in to their school email account, which allowed them to access all of the things that they needed to get on.”

Along with the chance to reconnect with teachers, Tuesday’s fifth grade promotion event also allowed new Principal Shawn Perkins to offer some advice to parents whose students are moving on to Bowling Green Junior High School next fall.

“Make sure you get your kids involved. Make sure they are doing something outside of just the normal classroom,” he said, adding it will help them make friends and stay in school in the long run.

Paraphrasing his grandmother, he also offered some words of wisdom about perseverance.

“I know it’s a little weird and awkward right now, but this too shall pass,” he said.

– Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.