Mark Kruzynski worries about mental health toll on students

Photos by Tom Rivers: Mark Kruzynski is pictured at his office on Friday. He has switched to wearing contact lenses because his glasses kept fogging up while wearing a mask.

MEDINA – It was one year ago today when superintendents in Orleans County’s five districts announced the schools were closed for in-person learning due to concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mark Kruzynski, Medina’s district superintendent, thought Medina would be shut down for two weeks. But the schools wouldn’t reopen to students until early September.

Medina has 1,410 students. Kruzynski has been the superintendent four more than four years. Prior to that he was Medina’s business administrator, the high school principal, and middle school principal. He started at Medina as a social studies teacher.

“None of that prepared me for a pandemic,” he said Friday during an interview at his office.

Question: So, going back to last year on March 13, were you surprised how quickly it escalated?

Answer: It escalated very quickly. Earlier that week we had just started spring sports. Earlier that week the big debate going around among the school superintendents was should we allow fans at our exceptional senior basketball game, which was between the Niagara-Orleans League and the GR League.

We were debating whether or not fans should be allowed. And school musicals were going on and should we be allowing musicals to go that weekend. And that was the feeling early in the week. At that time the guidance at the time was if you just wash your hands everything will be OK. The CDC wasn’t saying wear masks at the time, just good hygiene. It looked like it was in the cities and not here yet, but you were hearing all of these horror stories that it was spreading.

By the middle of the week I started to think something was going to change. By the end of the week, that Friday morning, I remember calling all of the administrators to come into by office and we’re going to talk. We sat at this table here and figured out what we needed to do if schools were shut down. We still thought we had some time, but we knew if things were going to happen it was going to happen quickly and we needed to be prepared.

That day we sent an email out to all the staff to prepare lesson plans for Monday, and be ready to work from home. In hindsight, I wish we had told all of the kids on Friday to make sure you take everything out of your locker because that was a big challenge to get everybody in and get all of their belongings back. We weren’t really expecting it that Monday.

We knew something was coming. I actually was helping with softball practice. I remember going out to practice that Thursday or Friday and we were wondering if we would ever get to a game because it was a really warm week at the time.

That Saturday I remember waking up on the 14^th and there was a positive case confirmed in Rochester. And just like that Monroe County declared a state of emergency. And then all of the schools were shutting down. At the time if you recall it was for two weeks at a time because it was two weeks to flatten the curve.

‘We have seen an incredible rise in mental health. People are social. They are not meant to be sitting at home all day, kids especially. This pandemic has definitely caused anxiety issues. We’re seeing much more of that and depression. We’re seeing kids who normally on the outward appear fine who are really, really struggling with this.’

Q: Was it in late April, when the governor finally said no (in-person) school for the rest of the year?

A: It was late April or May 1. For a while it was in two-week increments. The way this panned out we were learning what was happening at his press conferences. Everybody would watch his press conferences to see what is going to happen today.

But back to that Saturday morning on March 14^th, we had seen that there was a case in Monroe County. In Orleans County, one third of Kendall school district is in Monroe County. So immediately Julie Christensen (Kendall superintendent) has a problem whether she can open school or not.

And we also have a lot of people who work here who live in Monroe County. We figure it’s just a matter of time before it’s coming.

Paul Pettit (public health director in Orleans and Genesee counties) and Lynne Johnson (Orleans County Legislature chairwoman), we all had a conference call that day. Lynne issued the state of emergency, because remember at that time the states of emergency were all issued by county.

Lynne, knowing the situation with the schools, she declared the county as a state of emergency. And then Paul Pettit, with the state of emergency, he gave us the advice that it was still our decision – it was the superintendent’s decision – but he gave us the advice that based on the pandemic I’m not recommending you stay open.

We had all announced by 12 o’clock or 1 that day.

The sign at Medina Central School announced on March 14, 2020 that schools would be closed until further notice.

Q: How long were you thinking this would go on with schools closed?

A: I was thinking a couple weeks. This had started earlier in the year and you had seen all of these stories of China barring people in their homes and having these mass sprayers where they would go around and disinfect everything. There was so much truth and not truth. The internet and social media is never a good source for truth, but there was all sorts of stuff out there that this was just a flu or virus.

But we knew at the time there was the fear that nobody really knew how this spread. So we shut down. That night Niagara County shut down. Before too long Erie County closed. A few days later I think the governor officially shut down schools in New York State. There were still some pretty big cities that were open.

Then it was scrambling. We had to put together a meal delivery plan.

Q: That first week were you totally off or did you have to do the meals right away?

A: We started the meals pretty quickly.

Q: With the remote learning, was there a week or two breather with no education from the school?

A: That first week was just kind of review work. Honestly, in our area we weren’t allowed to do new learning because of the way the rules were set up. If we couldn’t provide the same education for everybody we couldn’t provide new content.

We had the broadband gap. Now this year we are at 100 percent with our one-to-one devices. Last year only 60 percent of the students had school-owned devices.

Q: So people were picking up a lot of paper packets?

A: We were mailing out packets left and right. Dan Doctor (the school’s community liaison) was delivering them to people. It was like copy central here. Teachers would email us work and we would put it on the website, each area every Friday, we would put new work up for kids to do.

Paper packets is not the way to learn.

Q: Has it gone better this year with not having the sudden change thrown at you?

A: Yes. We’re better prepared and we’re pushing out new learning everyday. Last year we were kind of hamstrung in the fact we weren’t technologically available to push out new learning and if you couldn’t push out new learning to everybody, then there would be equity problems.

This year we’ve pared down the curriculum to the point where teachers are selecting what they feel are the most important things to teach. We’re moving forward.

This year we’re in a much better spot because at the elementary, which is open five days a week. If your kid is coming to school from grades K through 6, they are here everyday. Or if the parents selected virtual, we have dedicated virtual teachers who work just with those kids during the day.

Q: For K to 6, do you know what percent is remote only?

A: I’d say about 30 percent. We have a waiting list of people who want to come back full time. We’ve been pretty much able to accommodate.

High school there is a bigger social aspect, not that there isn’t in the elementary. In high school we had a lot of people back but then when they realized they’re on Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday and some of their friends are on the opposite schedule and other friends are on virtual. High school has been tough because we’re on the hybrid model. We have brought some kids back four days a week. We’re trying to accommodate as much as our capacity will allow.

Q: So 7 through 12 is hybrid. How many are remote-only?

A: I’d say about one third. That varies from day to day. Thankfully the quarantines are down.

Q: That must have been a nightmare to deal with that?

A: It was very much a logistical nightmare, especially around the holidays. When we had to shut down the high school it wasn’t because of so many students, it was because so many of our staff members had to quarantine. At one point half of our district cleaning staff and all of the high school staff was in quarantine. We just couldn’t clean the buildings.

That was when we shut down for about a week before Thanksgiving until they all came out of quarantine. Now the rules have relaxed a little bit. When it first started if you were in a room with someone for more than an hour, even if you were wearing a mask and social distancing, everybody in that room would be quarantined.

At the elementary level that would knock out an entire class. At the high school we would have to go through every kid’s schedule to see who they had multiple classes with and where they were on a bus. So we had a lot of quarantines there for a while.

Now they have relaxed that if you are wearing a mask and are six feet apart they won’t quarantine the whole room. They will look at it on a case-by-case basis.

Q: What have been some of the hardest parts about this past year for you as a school superintendent?

A: It’s hard to play for one week down the road when you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Last year there was a lot of “What are we going to do about graduation?”, “What are we going to do about prom?” We as a district decided we were just going to wait because we knew things were going to change. A lot of announced their graduation plans on April 1 or May 1 but we knew the guidance was changing on a daily basis so we held off knowing that things might change. We lucked out there. We were able to host in-person graduation when some schools weren’t able to do that. We also have a huge facility where we can adequately social distance people.

But it’s hard to plan. The nature of this job is you’re always thinking six months ahead. We’ve been planning next year’s budget for the last three months. The stimulus changes a lot of those numbers with where you’re going to go.

With the pandemic it was literally changing from press conference to press conference.

Medina split last year’s graduation into three different ceremonies to stay under a 150-maximum set by the state. The service was moved from the auditorium to Vets Park. Mark Kruzynski said the district expects the entire class will be able to graduate together in the same service this June.

Q: Right now the outdoor size limit is 200, and I tend to think it will be more in June.

A: Honestly we’re planning for a full graduation this year. If it’s 200 on March 1, then by June we’ll be in a better spot. If we have to scale it back, then we’ll scale it back. We’re planning on prom. The high school is working on a prom location. It may be limited in capacity but there are a lot of places that have outdoor tents, pavilions, things like that that you can use.

To me that’s the hardest stuff: you just don’t know what the next day is going to be.

We fully did not expect winter sports to start when they did. All of a sudden on a Friday we get a one-week lead time that says here’s winter sports. Well that puts us in a tough spot.

And OK we can have kids running up and down a basketball court but we can’t have kids standing feet six feet apart singing in a choir. Sometimes it’s just illogical.

I don’t know how you explain to a parent that this activity is allowed and this activity isn’t.

Q: What about the marching band, which is outside?

A: We’re hoping by the spring we can put something together. I mean if you think about it with marching band we could be 12 feet apart. We could be six feet apart. It’s outdoors. Is that safer than wrestling?

So there is so much illogic through this whole thing.

Q: I think that’s where the governor and some of the public health officials have lost some people when things don’t make sense.

A: I will say Paul Pettit (local public health director) has been fantastic for us in this county. He basically worked with all five of us (school superintendents). Every teacher who has wanted a vaccine has gotten one. We’re halfway through. March 25 is our last big day and then two weeks after the 25^th anybody who wanted a vaccine in the district and that’s across the county. That hasn’t happened in every other county.

Q: How many staff work here?

A: We have about 200 full-time and another 100 part-time. So 300 staff members total.

Q: And they will all be vaccinated?

A: I would say about 70 percent of the total of the staff who has requested it has gotten it (with more to be done through March 25). Some we don’t know if they are going on their own. There is no requirement that we ask people.

Q: There is a lot of concern about the isolation for a lot of the students and their mental health.

A: We have seen an incredible rise in mental health. People are social. They are not meant to be sitting at home all day, kids especially.

We’re reaching out to the kids everyday. This pandemic has definitely caused anxiety issues. We’re seeing much more of that and depression.

Q: When you say you see it, is that an observation or do kids somehow get served for those issues?

A: We have kids check in regularly. Then have a check-in. We ask them, “How are you feeling?” “Is this a drawback or a problem?” If any of those come up our counselors reach out to them and try to find out what is going on so we can help. It has definitely, definitely been made more difficult.

One thing we have done this year: Our counselors go into all of the classrooms. Then try to get in at least weekly to check in on everybody because we’re seeing kids who normally on the outward appear fine who are really, really struggling with this. It’s tough – the uncertainty with when is this going to end. We have dealt a lot with that.

‘I’m thinking the first Christmas concert we have together there probably won’t be a dry eye in the house. The first homecoming rally, nobody is going to take that for granted anymore when we have 2,000 people at Vets Park cheering. Once we fully reopen there is going to be a lot said for people really embracing things.’

Q: Is it difficult because we can’t say when it will end. It does seem like there is more optimism now with fighting Covid.

A: There is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel. We’re getting closer. I fully expect, barring any new variants or if it turns out the vaccine didn’t work or something, I fully expect we’ll be back to in-person five days a week by fall.

Right now the vaccine is only approved for adults. We got trials going on with kids. Even though the kids don’t tend to have severe cases of Covid, they are transmitters. We have to make sure people are safe.

Do I think we’ll be there by the fall, yeah. Would I like it to be tomorrow? Absolutely.

When this first started we thought maybe it would be Easter at the latest that we would be back. Who knew it would be this long.

Q: Are there any positives through this, maybe speeding up technology?

A: Yes. For better or worse, it’s forced everybody to learn the latest technology. We just did a superintendent’s conference day a week ago on technology training based on topics the teachers had said they wanted to learn. It turns out by the time we had scheduled it for the conference day they had forced themselves to learn it and move on to more advanced technologies. So that has been an improvement.

There has been more connections made with some kids normally in in-person school. And that’s been a positive.

The community has been fantastic in supporting the schools. I have four kids so I understand how tough it can be when we announced on a Monday night we have to go virtual on Tuesday. But everybody just adjusts and I know how tough that is for parents to arrange for daycare and figure things out like that. But the community has been fantastic in working with us on that and understanding that sometimes our hands are tied.

Q: Let’s say there are 500 people or more at graduation, it will be quite a moment. One of the benefits of this past year will be not taking that for granted.

A: I’m thinking the first Christmas concert we have together there probably won’t be a dry eye in the house. Sports have kind of been coming back but they haven’t had full fans. The first homecoming rally, nobody is going to take that for granted anymore when we have 2,000 people at Vets Park cheering.

The things you always took for granted before and now you realize you can’t have. Once we fully reopen there is going to be a lot said for people really embracing things.

Quick Questions with Greg Reed, director of Orleans County YMCA

Photos by Tom Rivers: Greg Reed, executive director of the Orleans County YMCA, looks forward to the building being able to reopen to the public.

MEDINA – Greg Reed, executive director of the Orleans County YMCA for nearly three years, has the building ready for a reopening if the state gives gyms the green light. (The state is expected to issue guidelines today for gyms on what precautions they need to take to reopen.)

The Y’s building has been closed to the public since 8 p.m. on March 16, although the site is running a day camp in a room in the basement where there are games and space for activities.

Reed said the former Medina Armory on Pearl Street has been given an extensive cleaning, and exercise equipment has been spaced out at least 6 feet. Some of the elliptical machines, tread mills, cardio-rowers and exercise bikes have been moved to the gym where there is more space.

The Y has shifted some programs outside, including a spin class three times a week, and other programs for kayaking, cycling, stretching and flexibility, and a boot camp.

The Y has 40 employees when it is fully operational. Reed and Jessica Lino are the only full-timers. Lino is director of membership and operations. “She keeps this place running,” Reed said.

The following interview with Reed was conducted Aug. 7 on the front steps of the Y. This was the day Gov. Cuomo announced whether schools would be allowed to reopen for in-person in the fall. The governor said schools could reopen as long as they submitted safety plans to the state and held three meetings with the community about the plans, as well as a meeting with teachers.

Question: You said 40 employees at the YMCA with two full-time. How many have you been able to keep working during this?

Answer: It’s been different throughout the structure of it, because of the PPP program and how they set it up. By the end of your eight weeks you’re supposed to try to bring all of your workforce back in order to have loan forgiveness and that is obviously what we wanted to pursue.

But then in about week 5 they changed it to where if your business is closed due to Covid you didn’t have to honor that. We were thinking how could we make this last long to really help us and get through closure.

At one point we probably had close to 20 employees back to work, whether that was back in the building or remote work. We worked on curriculum development. I had my youth sports lead instructor be creating curriculum for all of our youth sports program so that way it could be a program that lasts past him.

Some exercise equipment has been moved the gym where there is lots of space to spread out the machines. There is also hand sanitizer on a table.

Question: So you’ve been doing outdoor programs. When did that start?

Answer: So basically when the governor released that we could be doing outdoor, low-risk, recreational sports. So specifically in the guidelines they said kayaking is one of those things. When I saw that I wanted to run our kayaking program. It took a couple weeks after that to get it off the ground.

We just finished a session (for five weeks.) I want to say it was probably in the middle of June when we starting our first session of kayaking. We just started a new session that will go for five weeks.

Question: It’s got to be tough because you want to do things, and I think people want to be doing things out in the community.

Answer: Exactly. What our next pivoting move will be, a lot of it will be determined by what Governor Cuomo says today with what schools can and can’t do. We’re all just kind of waiting for that decision.

Some people in a kayak class get into Glenwood Lake in Ridgeway on Aug. 6. The class runs for 5 weeks and is led by Coby Albone in back.

Question: In terms of not only what you can do here but the childcare programs you run?

Answer: With how we can assist schools. We already run an afterschool and before-school programming so if schools can run then obviously we will still be running those programs. But if they are doing hybrid or virtual then obviously parents will have a lot of childcare needs so how can we fit and fill that void with the school year coming up on us.

Question: I knew you have been running the Eagle Pride daycare in Albion. What else have you been doing for childcare?

Answer: Actually we closed Eagle’s Pride Daycare permanently. That was in light of Covid. I want to say it was at the end of June that we notified parents. It was because of the increased regulations on us. The cost to run a childcare program is already difficult and then to  place an additional staff member in there to be working on sanitizing and keeping a safe, clean environment was something that we just can’t keep up with unfortunately.

Question: You would have needed another staff person?

Answer: Probably just to keep up with cleaning, disinfecting and regulations and all those things. I would imagine you probably would have to provide an increase in breaks to go with all the increased things to do it.

And when we polled our families only about half of them needed care. Then our ratios would have been lower but we’re still having to pay staff members to be there. There is definitely a lot of math that goes into running a childcare program, especially daycares.

Greg Reed is pictured in one of the rooms with exercise equipment that has been separated by at least 6 feet.

Question: So what would you be looking to offer schools this year if it’s not childcare?

Answer: It depends on what their needs will be. If it’s going to be afterschool programming, then we would do that.

If it’s something where kids are going to be home a lot more then we might do something similar to what we’re doing now with summer day camp. We could make it like a day camp integrated with learning and tutoring, giving kids the opportunities to do stuff.

I’ve already been talking with Medina schools. With the Education and Recreation Club downstairs, we have 12 computers down there and they are all hooked up directly to Medina Central School’s network. I can’t even get on those computers. You have to be a Medina student or teacher to get onto those computers and they are monitoring them to make sure the kids are using the internet safely. That was my desire when a donor was generous enough to give those to us. I decided I wanted the school district to own those so that way it’s monitored by them.

Question: So you really have to spring into action based on the governor’s announcements.

Answer: Yes. That will be something once that’s decided – I’ve already by talking with Mr. (Dan) Doctor (Medina’s director of community outreach) – even if they are able to do their program, with the high school students being every other day, if there’s any way he or someone else can work with us to maybe have an office hours time where could come in, sign up and use a computer, and then if they have any questions a staff member could be there. That way they would have an offsite place where kids could be. Even if it’s just for four hours a day at least they would have a place where they could go to check in and do work and have internet access.

This young kayaker is among the participants in the class offered by the Y.

Question: Is it strange for you being here at Y when it is so quiet when it was really hopping not long ago?

Answer: It has been sad to look at the graph of membership. Over the years we saw it go up and now it’s back down to lower than before I came.

Question: Financially, how is the local Y doing?

Answer: Membership drives a lot of what we do. Thankfully we’ve had a lot of gracious members keep their membership and be classified as sustainable members. Their membership dues are classified can be a tax deductible donation to the YMCA so we can keep running and Jessica and I can keep doing what we’re doing. The PPP loan has helped us continue as we have all moved on with the full-time staff on the shared work program. All of us are partially furloughed right now. But it’s to help conserve us so that way we can keep going forward. Grants, the United Way of Rochester was really gracious in bringing funds, as well as Dean Bellack from the Orleans County United Way. He’s been trying to get us additional funds to help us out.

I received some Covid relief from the Ralph Wilson youth sports legacy fund. A lot of the grants I had already received I requested if any of the grants could be reallocated to kind of help with general operating costs. A lot of them have been gracious to say a little bit can be moved around. Those grants helped us to do some things but they’ve really helped us to keep trucking forward.

Question: Even though you are largely closed down, there must be a lot of work to prepare to reopen.

Answer: When I’m here it’s very much administrative. It’s trying to keep things moving forward.

Question: With the kayaking program, do they call in and then you process that?

Answer: What we’ve mainly been trying to do, when we post it on Facebook, we’ve pointed people to messaging us on Facebook. That’s probably the easiest way to connect with Jessica or me. Because we have access to that all the time.

She and I are usually the ones signing people up and registering for things. We’re only here a handful of hours each day. To try to catch us is much more difficult than it used to be when we were open from 5 a.m. to 9 at night.

Question: I know the state has been reluctant to reopen the gyms. What does that mean for you and how long can you wait this out?

Answer: We’ll be rolling out some additional services to membership where we could possibly open up the building, just not as gym. We could utilize it for something different. I’m still processing that and what it could look like. It all depends on what schools end up doing.

There are also a lot more families looking at home schooling. We’re seeing if we could offer a Phys. Ed. program if anyone if doing home schooling. At least they would have an outlet. We have the gym and I used to be a Phys. Ed. teacher in Colorado State.

I think all of us have to think outside the box. That’s something we have told our employees. Our jobs are not going to work the same way they did. We might have to flex and do something different than before we did this. It could be an exciting opportunity if we choose to look at it that way.

Greg Reed, director of the Orleans County YMCA, hands a box to Andrew Lafave on June 12 during a food distribution at the Calvary Tabernacle church in Medina. Reed and Y staff have assisted at several of the events.

Question: I’ve noticed you and some of the Y staff have been helpful at the food distribution events. Why are you doing that?

Answer: Again, it goes back to when we had the PPP program. When my boss said we’re bringing people back and we have to find things for them to do, I was like let’s do good then.

I sent a team over to P.Raising Kids (child care center) to get their space ready, and cleaned and sanitized so they could open and offer child care services. Laura Fields works a lot at the Calvary Tabernacle food pantry. For a while we were able to pay her to be over there rather than volunteer her time. She has always requested Tuesdays and Thursdays not to work so she could keep volunteering even though we can’t pay her now to keep doing that.

My goal with this space has always been to fill community needs and we help out wherever we can.

Robert Batt (executive director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County) has been doing a great job with the food distribution events. Melissa (Blanar, Office for the Aging director) has done a great job coordinating them. Wherever we can lend a helping hand we want to try to. It is benefitting the mission and vision of the Y.

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Kristine Mostyn says books remain popular, including with teens

Photos by Tom Rivers: Kristine Mostyn is the new director of the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina. She was the assistant director for 10 years under Catherine Cooper, who retired last month after 33 years at Lee-Whedon.

MEDINA – The new director of Lee-Whedon Memorial Library said the site on West Avenue has changed to offer more electronic materials and online programming. But she said books are still very popular, including among teen-agers.

Kristine Mostyn took over as director last month, following the retirement of Catherine Cooper, who worked at the library for 33 years.

Mostyn, 39, was the assistant director the past 10 years. She sat down for an interview on Friday in the “Teen Space” at the library, a spot with chairs and books for teenagers.

Question: Why stay here? It seems you have built up a resume and could go elsewhere?

Answer: I could and over the years there have been some offers from other libraries, asking me to apply there. But I really love the feel of Medina. It is a great community. It is very involved. All the businesses try to help each other. And the library and the people that work here are wonderful.

Question: Over the past 10 years this place has become more snazzy. How would describe these changes, how one big room has been several spots?

Answer: We made little spaces. We tried to do that because when you come in it is a giant room. It is nice to have that small feel, that it feels comfortable like you are at home.

Question: I’m sure people are wondering of the winter concert series, Finally Fridays, will keep happening?

Answer: I hope it will. We have plans to continue it as long as we are able to.

Question: That is an amazing thing that you get 200 people in here for those concerts on a Friday in February.

Is that unusual here at Lee-Whedon in creating the spaces, embracing artwork and having the concerts? It’s not just books and magazines.

Answer: We want to offer games and anything the people in the community want and need a space for. That is what we want to try to offer.

Question: I know you have a smaller meeting room. Is there local history in there?

Answer: There is. Right now it isn’t open. We call it the quiet room.

Question: What is your annual circulation and how has that been affected with e-Books, etc.

Answer: Our circulation is around 86,000. With electronics going up some of our print collections are going down. People are still borrowing materials, it’s just a different format.

Question: What do you see as the library of the future, or even the next five to ten years, if there will be big changes?

Answer: I don’t think there will be because overall electronic use has actually plateaued. The younger generation prefers books. There are times when they want a device when they are traveling for ease of use, but the teen-agers that are coming in are taking books so I don’t know that the print collection will change a whole lot.

Question: Why do you think that is?

Answer: It may have to do with them being on their devices so much that it’s a break from that.

Question: It looks like you still get a lot of new books. Have you had to shift some dollars away from books to electronics?

Answer: Our book budget has stayed fairly consistent. But how we divide it up between electronics and print changes. I know our Hoopla collection, which is online books and audio, with movies and TV shows on there, that used to be paid by the Nioga Library System. But starting in January, because the price has gone up so much, they can no longer do that. So we’re going to be taking on that cost which will be coming out of book budget.

Lee-Whedon has decals on the floor to encourage social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. This one near the entrance tells people not to proceed if they have flu-like symptoms. The library returned to its regular hours on July 6. 

Question: I should ask you about Covid. I see the Plexiglass dividers at the circulation desk. I wonder what other changes you’ve made to be open to the public.

Answer: So we’ve purchased all of the floor stickers for social distancing. We’ve added additional hand sanitizing stations. We’ve provided face masks and face shields to our staff.

Question: Why face shields?

Answer: Some people don’t like having the mask on all day. Having the piece across their forehead is easier for them to tolerate. Also it is clear for people who are hard of hearing. They can at least see your lips to try to hear what you’re saying better.

We of course have to disinfect all the chairs and tables. We have carts in the foyer. We have to leave everything out there for three days before we can bring it in and check it in and put it back on the shelf.

Question: Is the idea that saves you from cleaning it with cleaning products?

Answer: Yes. They’re saying for the paper and plastic with books if you let them sit for 72 hours, anything that is on there should die.

Question: You reopened how recently?

Answer: Curbside started in May, then in beginning of June we started doing by appointment. You could come in for up to half an hour, and browse and leave. The second half hour we would take to sanitize everything.

On July 6, we started to be open for our regular hours and people could come and go.

Question: When I get up from this chair will someone have to come over and sanitize it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Have you seen a significant drop in people coming in so far?

Answer: There is a significant drop. We’ve been talking about it. Some people aren’t aware that we are open. We have it up on social media, on our web site, and I’ve put an ad in the Pennysaver. We just added another sign outside that we are open, and please come on in.

We think some people are still afraid. They are just not sure. We have a lot of parents coming in without kids because they don’t want to take a chance with their kids being exposed to anything. So I think people are afraid.

Question: I think the interloan library program has resumed.

Answer: It has not resumed. They’re just not ready to start that yet. We are getting deliveries, but it’s just our books being returned to us, and we have to isolate those for 72 hours as well.

Kristine Mostyn is pictured with Samantha Covis, the new assistant director. Covis was a desk clerk the past three years. She has a master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois.

Question: Are you happy to be in this line of work?

Answer: I love it. I order books, I order the DVDs for the collection. I see the numbers for what people are borrowing. I get to talk to people about what they like and try to make sure our collection reflects the community.

Question: It seems like all the libraries in our county have stepped it up with their facilities and programs. They aren’t just passive sites.

Answer: Correct. We aren’t just stagnating. When we closed on March 16, we had no intention of having online programming for summer because we’ve never had to. We’ve always done in-house. While we were closed we instituted all new software that all the staff had to learn while they were home.

Now we’re offering on-line summer reading, which is actually turning out really well.

Suzanne (McAllister, the children’s librarian) and I were both doing videos on Facebook. Parents could in and pick up a kit for their kids, and bring it home and do it with us through a video. They log their reading online on our beanstalk site.

Question: What else is there to say?

Answer: We have hired a new assistant director, Samantha Covis.

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