Oceanside Middle Schoolers get a socially distanced visit from teachers

“Stronger together … even when we are apart” is the new slogan in the Oceanside School District as teachers and staff rally to bring a unified spirit to students while they are home from school due to the coronavirus.

Oceanside Middle School teachers delivered the sentiment loud and clear on Tuesday when they drove by students’ homes in a “car caravan” parade.

More than 25 teachers and staff members greeted current and former students, neighbors, family members and friends from their cars, holding signs, honking and waving along the way.

Staff members divided up the many school communities that comprise the district to ensure all neighborhoods would receive a visit from the caravan, said Michelle Mastrande, the middle school assistant principal.

The middle school’s guidance counselor Kathy Dunne had suggested the idea, and world language teacher and Oceanside resident Christina Castilla-Lyson organized it.

“The staff was overwhelmed by the warm greetings that they received from the community,” Mastrande said, “and hope that it brought smiles to the faces of their students.”

School No. 2 students also received a car caravan parade on Thursday.