NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — Monday is the day families have been waiting for in Nassau County: the first day of school.
From the moment students board their school buses, things will be different. For instance, they'll be getting on the bus back-to-front to minimize contact and they will be wearing masks and get hand sanitizer as they board.
For parents who made the tough decision to send their kids back, details like this make them feel better.
'A Day in the Life of Our Students' is the title of a video released by the Nassau County School District to show the new daily routine. That routine has many more steps for sanitization and spacing out students. Elementary students will be in cohorts. Students will wear masks and stay with their classes.
"Cafeteria tables will also have acrylic shields that divide the table as an extra layer of protection," says the video's narrator during one part, showing students sitting at a cafeteria table divided by the shield.
Rebecca McKinney watched the video with her two kids to learn about what this new "day in the life" would look like.
"While it brought me comfort knowing that all these safety precautions are going to be taken, it also made me feel stressed for what my kids are gonna experience," she said.
While informative, McKinney describes it as looking "dystopian," and it wasn't until she met her children's teachers inside the school that she began to feel better.
"When I was there I didn't get a sense of strangeness at all," McKinney said. "It just felt like school but with a few extra kind of weirdness that's temporary."
The reopening plan states "six feet of distance between students will not be possible in most classrooms" but furniture is arranged to allow "as much distance as possible."
When McKinney went to her daughter's school to meet the teachers, things were closer together than she'd expected but she says she felt safe.
"For a mom who made the tough decision to send them to school and 'gosh, am I putting them at risk? Am I putting my parents at risk, who are around us a lot, by sending them to school?' I feel better not only knowing that they're going to be safe, but also knowing there was no fear in anybody in that school," McKinney said.
Athletics at the school will be following the Florida High School Athletic Association guidelines. Clubs are encouraged to do meetings virtually.
Virtual learning is also an option for students.
