This year’s Back to School night will return to the Hoover Campus.

Back to School night will take place on Thursday at 5pm on the Hoover campus. After last year’s digital presentations, staff and parents alike are eager to see each other.

Many teachers remember last year’s Back to School night as being isolated from the parents and students, only being able to pre-record a video explaining the class without the ability to answer any questions.

“Being online you really don’t get the connection as much,” Christopher Clemons said.

Clemons, a teacher at Hoover and a parent of two, said, “I also have kids, two of them in GUSD, so I would prefer it be in person and see what their class is like and I can have more of a relationship with teachers.”

A focus of this school year is to not only survive like last year, but thrive which is why this year’s in-person Back to School night is so important, “I think a lot of parents will like having a back in person, if the reason for coming to Back to School night is for the parents and teachers to meet and for the parents to get a feel for the school and actually having a bit of a relationship with the teachers, then I think having the parents on campus is a good idea,” Clemons said.

Jason Umansky, a teacher at Hoover for five years, while understanding the reasons for last years back to school night being virtual, was disappointed by the choice saying, “yeah it was strange because there weren’t any faces that we were talking to, all blank screens you kinda get to know someone, but you can’t have a conversation with them.”

The way Back to School night normally works is students and parents go from class to class with every class being about 7-8 minutes long, “I think it’s a great opportunity for the families to get to know their teachers and be with their kids the entire school year and a little taste of what’s to come,” Umansky said.