Yes, they passed: East Clayton teachers put on parade for students stuck at home because of coronavirus outbreak

CLAYTON, N.C. (WTVD) -- Schools are closed across North Carolina but that didn't stop teachers at East Clayton Elementary School from showing their students how much they care about them.

More than two dozen teachers met in the school parking lot Friday afternoon in their cars, ready to caravan through Johnston County neighborhoods, putting on a parade for their students.

"It's just one of those things where we miss them so .. I'm going to cry," said fourth-grade teacher April Taylor.

READ MORE: Full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic

"We're just excited to be able to see them from afar and wave to them and let them know how much we love them and miss them," said kindergarten teacher Amy Crute.

Crute has been a teacher at the school for 24 years and reached out to the principal to see whether teachers could coordinate a parade for the students

"I can't take the credit for this," said Principal Jamie Tyler. "They are the ones that organized it. They got signs together and so they just wanted to go out there and end this week with something positive."

"It's one of those things where we were, 'oh gosh spring break, we've got to get out of here, we've got to get out of here,'" Taylor said. "Now that we are out, we miss them. We hunger for them, that's the part of the job that we love the most."

Dozens of children and their families lined the streets and stood by their windows all waiting for a chance to see their favorite teachers.

"That our kids know that we love them," Tyler said, "that's the most important thing. We needed to find a way to remind them even through some stressful times that our love for them was the most important thing."