GREENSBORO, N.C. — Some Guilford County students are starting the first day of school Monday, a week before other students.
Students at restart schools - schools that work to boost performance on state tests - will be the first to experience the district's strong schools health toolkit. In other words, the new safety protocols.
With the contagious delta variant spreading, it's a top priority to keep students and faculty safe.
The district's kit includes sanitation, social distancing requirements, and when and where they expect masks to be worn.
GCS is following tool kit recommendations for mask-wearing, requiring them indoors and on all school buses, except when drinking and eating.
Masks are not required outdoors unless someone is participating in a high-risk activity.
Kadrien Wilson, who is a former Guilford County elementary teacher and now the Principal Intern at Fairview Elementary, said her elementary school is making sure communication is clear when it comes to wearing masks.
"We have signs all around the building about masking up. We are going to model that for students. So, we just want parents to know that their students and their scholars are in good hands," said Wilson.
Cleaning and disinfecting are also top of mind. The tool kit states that there will be routine cleaning daily and if a positive case is confirmed, affected spaces will be cleaned.
When it comes to physical distancing, students will be three feet apart from each other and six feet apart from adults when possible.
"We're really being intentional about the spacing and following those guidelines for social distancing and all those best practices," Wilson said.
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Guilford County School officials plan to revisit the mask requirement after the first quarter. The district also highly encourages folks to get vaccinated if they're eligible.
News 2 spoke to Guilford County parents on how they're handling conversations with their children about back-to-school safety.
Arist Dagout said she knows just how serious the virus is. She lost two family members to COVID-19.
Dagout has two young children. One of them will be starting the third grade Monday at Bluford Stem Academy.
She said she reminds her children, constantly, of the importance of keeping your mask on. She even teaches her children songs to wash their hands properly.
"We're doing all that we can do. But, at the same time, I can't keep him in a bubble for the rest of his life. So, I got my vaccination, we're wearing our masks, we're washing our hands, using hand sanitizer. We're doing everything we can possibly do," Dagout said.
Dagout said she also teaches her children not to touch the front of the mask when taking it on and off.
The CDC recommends that you carefully handle masks by the ear loops or ties.