GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Since Governor Roy Cooper's call to districts to provide in-person learning options for public school students K-12, some families who haven't yet returned are eager to see what their options could be next.
Students, parents, and educators who have ventured back to the classroom for in-person learning are giving insight into the successes and challenges they've experienced.
Alex Tyler is a school counselor at Piedmont Classical High, a public charter school in Guilford County.
The students, ranging in grades 9-12, have been back for in-person learning since the beginning of the school year.
Tyler said overall, it's been a success.
"Everybody wears a mask. They go ahead and get their temperature taken each day and we’ve broken our students into an A-day and a B-day so we only have half our population on campus each day," said Tyler.
Tyler said the school came up with a plan over the summer because it was important to them to have students back in the classroom to support their social and emotional needs.
"We have lines on the floor to make sure that everybody’s walking on the same side to reduce the crowds," said Tyler, "We don’t have passing periods, they’re just going straight to class there’s no time for loitering."
Students like Hunter Bisbee have returned for in-person learning at other schools.
Hunter transferred after remote learning on the back end of last school year wasn't everything he hoped it'd be.
"From then on it was what it was. It was pretty unorganized and it was hard to learn things," he said.
He and his father Scott made the decision to enroll him in Greensboro Day School, a private school in Greensboro.
"Our challenge was realizing that the learning loss was potentially going to be epic with three months lost followed by potentially another year lost," said Scott.
Hunter said he attends school for in-person learning every day, with masks and social distancing in place.
"It’s a lot different for sure. It’s not really so much difficult as it is an adjustment. You get used to it," he said.
Scott said returning safely can be done safely.
"The masks work. Following the CDC guidelines, it all works and if everyone is doing their part the kids can go back to school. The teachers are safe the kids are safe. It works.
Piedmont Classical School Counselor Alex Tyler said some challenges have included reaching families that have stayed with the school's virtual option.
"Since we are a charter school and we don’t have a feeder school there are some students we’ve never seen before, they’ve never been on campus," said Tyler.
Even with students in the classroom, Tyler said they haven't run into major issues with COVID-19 cases in the school.
"If there is a family member who has COVID, they’re at home and they’re not allowed back until the quarantine period and our families have done an excellent job adhering to those guidelines," said Tyler.
Tyler said the new feel to school in the midst of a pandemic was an adjustment for students at first, but overall returning to the classroom has been successful.
"They have done an excellent job. At the beginning, we set the expectations and they’ve adhered to them. Sometimes it's making sure, 'Get your mask up.' Sometimes it comes down," he said, "If they're in the hallway and they see their friend and they want to stop and catch up it's, 'Alright, let's keep it moving, we gotta get to classes.'"
While having to wear a mask and stay away from your friends at school isn't the scenario anyone wanted, Tyler said the in-person learning option has been necessary.
"The interaction they’ve been able to have in the classrooms, I think, has been worth it for them and the ones that have been coming they want to be here," Tyler said, "They’re old enough to understand if we don’t follow these guidelines were not able to be in the school building."