GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Students are back in the classroom at Piedmont Classical High School, but not without safety measures in place.
Principal Travis Ward said the school met with parents through focus groups this summer, to determine what families would be comfortable with.
"From that, we found that the masks were going to be a big piece of that in addition to hand washing, hand sanitizing, and making sure that we were able to socially distance our kids," said Ward.
Ward said the school has split its 450 students up on a rotating A-B schedule. Ward said students with last names that start with a letter in the first half of the alphabet attend school on Monday and Wednesday. Students with last names that start with letters "M" through "L", will return to the classroom Tuesday and Thursday.
Ward said students and staff go through wellness checks before coming into school.
"We do random questionnaires with kids but we also do the temperature checks every morning when the kids come in," he said, "Once the kids actually enter the building, they have to put their masks on and they stay on all day long."
"That’s pretty much how we start the day not only for our students but for our staff," said Assistant Principal Lowana Wade.
Parents like Pamela Hinchee and students like Gracie and Chloe Hinchee are happy with what the school has in place.
"Its definitely nice to be back face to face with your teachers and overall it’s a good environment," said Chloe, a senior at Piedmont Classical.
Her sister, Gracie, is a freshman at the school.
"We kind of expected to go in and be able to connect with people and not have to stay so far from people and get to know them but we have to keep everyone safe," she said.
Their mother Pamela said the school has done a great job keeping her kids safe.
"I just think the school is doing a phenomenal job with keeping everybody safe. They have just broke everything down to the basics. I feel like if piedmont classical can do it any school can do it," said Pamela.
Ward said the school has hand sanitizer stations throughout the building. Ward said before students are changing classrooms, they're cleaning desks and common areas after each period.
Ward said students are required to stay on the right side of the hallway while changing classes.
"We have some students and families we're working with as well who just don’t feel comfortable coming into our space and we're letting them work remotely from home," he said.