Excitement for the first day of school couldn't be masked in Corinth, Mississippi.Everyone is ready to return to school. I had a parent describe it last night as if the backpacks were by the door.And it was like Christmas eve and they were ready to go.Back to school with masks, plastic partitions on the bus, temperature checks at the front door. You're good.And classroom seats spaced apart.Lower school students grouped with classmates from last year to keep friends connected.And lunchtime no longer in cafeterias.The fun exciting thing about this year is that you get to eat lunch in your classroom.The list of new safeguards against COVID-19 reassuring Tara Williams whose four children returned to school Monday.I feel like probably requiring the mask was my number one thing that made me feel safer.But those changes were not enough for about 13 percent of parents who the district says have opted for remote learning this year.After announcing a hybrid approach in Memphis Tennessee,schools there now saying the academic year will begin virtually only after a spike in COVID cases raising threat to students and staff.One study shows more than half of teachers don't support in-person instruction at the start of the school year.With one in five saying they won't return if schools do reopen.It is very important that our community and other communities take this virus seriously. It's here.We're going to have to change some of our ways. Change is well worth making for seniors here.
