It took just one day. By the second full day of the 2020-21 school year, the first cases of COVID-19 exposure hit the news and the first few students were sent home to quarantine.
It's been more than a week since the first few systems opened. Across Alabama, dozens of school systems have joined them, reopening carefully, and with a huge emphasis on safety of students and staff. Students are wearing masks, many students are learning in small groups.
But schools keep finding cases.
News reports from around the state show at least 400 students statewide have been sent home to quarantine, and a dozen or so cases of COVID-19 in students and staff had been diagnosed as of Thursday afternoon.
Still, more than half of the systems that opened have not seen a case yet.
More than 30 of Alabama's 138 school districts are up and running. About half a dozen opened remotely, and the others opened for in-person school. Some have finished a full week. Another 70 open this coming week, most offering in-person classes.
"We've had many school districts have reported an extremely smooth start to the school year," the head of the state's school superintendent's association Ryan Hollingsworth said. "That's very encouraging."
"Schools are excited to have kids back and certainly the kids are excited to see their friends."
That doesn't mean that superintendents across the state aren't still worried, still concerned, particularly as more schools report cases of coronavirus exposure and send kids and teachers home to quarantine.
Enterprise City Schools, which opened Aug. 6 has already shifted from five-days-a-week learning to a hybrid model, alternating groups at the middle and high school levels.
None of that surprises Hollingsworth.
"We've had positive cases or symptomatic children in schools, and we expect that to continue," he said. "That's not anything to be shocked by. That's just a part of the new school year."
But most students are not heading back to school anytime soon this year.
Across Alabama, state officials say, about 260,000 students have opted to stay home and learn online when their system does reopen. Another 250,000 are zoned for systems that chose to stay online only for now.
Getting ready and opening schools
Saraland City Schools was one of two systems to open on Aug. 6. Superintendent Aaron Milner was the first to send out notice that students had been exposed. The notice went out on Aug. 7, the second day of school.
"After we had our first case, I was concerned we would have a mass exodus online," he said. "That didn't happen."
All in all, it's been a good start to school, Milner said. Because about 15% of students there enrolled in virtual-only school, fewer in-person students meant an easier start.
Milner credits principals and teachers with getting everything set up and ready, and communication with parents was critical so that everyone knew what to expect during the school day.
He sent recorded messages to parents every night for four nights prior to school opening, with each message focused on a particular topic, like social distancing and hygiene expectations, school bus operations, and how some procedures at school will be different. That's on top of messages posted to the district's social media accounts.
Baldwin County Superintendent Eddie Tyler has posted regular updates to the district's website and on social media.
But after an extended five-month break, getting students used to doing school is taking some effort, Milner said.
"It's definitely been different for students to have a break of the length of which they experienced," Milner said. "Socially, you can tell that many of our children are benefiting from being back after six months."
Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis agreed. Socializing at the high school level has been a challenge, he said. "Kids missed each other over the long break."
Yet many students did not choose to return.
Dennis said about 38%, or 4,300 of their 10,900 students chose virtual over in-person school, and the reduced number of students on campus made opening school easier in some ways.
"This is one of the best starts they've ever had," he said, "because of the staggered start."
Even with the easier start, that doesn't mean days are easier, though. "All I do is stare at the clock and I'm thinking can we get through another day," Milner said.
Baldwin County, which started Aug. 12, is the largest district in Alabama to open for in-person school. “This ranks as one of the best first weeks of school in all of my 45 years in education,” Tyler wrote in an email response to AL.com.
Allowing parents to choose between virtual and in-person school has provided unexpected benefits, he wrote. "This is created amazing opportunities for classroom education with reduced student teacher ratios we haven't seen since the 90's."
Seven thousand of the district's 30,000 students chose virtual learning.
Innovation and lessons learned
Making everyone feel some semblance of safety, even with the coronavirus continuing to make people sick, wasn't easy.
"We've tried to overwhelm our teachers with PPE and supplies to try to eliminate any anxiety," Milner said. "We understand there's anxiety. I've personally had anxiety about this, so I know they do as well."
Wearing masks every day while in school is something new, but doable.
"I've got to commend our parents." Milner said. "We have had virtually no problems with Gov. Ivey's mask order."
Ivey's order for all students in second grade and older to wear a mask while at school expires Aug. 31.
Dennis said masks haven't been a problem, but he worries that guidance from the Alabama Department of Public Health on when to send students home to quarantine is a disincentive to wearing a mask.
ADPH guidance recommends any students or staff who have been within six feet of someone with symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test, for 15 minutes or more be sent home from school, whether or not they were wearing a mask.
Tyler said his district pledges to be transparent with the impact of COVID-19. "We are reporting COVID driven absences to the public every evening," he said. Just under 100 students in the district were absent this week because of either being diagnosed with COVID-19 or missing school due to exposure by a family member or who were sent home showing symptoms of the virus.
The school year also means learning new routines, superintendents said.
Dennis said he visited each of the district's 15 schools on their first day of school, Aug. 10. "We're training them to walk in the right locations," he said. "We're trying to establish where we are, where we're going to take our kids for lunch, little things, figuring out what's working and what's not."
Milner said school bells aren't used for changing classes anymore, as only smaller groups of students are being allowed in hallways.
Dennis said school nurses there are spending time talking with parents who call before school wondering whether or not the symptoms their child has mean keeping them home from school.
Milner said they're experiencing a paradigm shift, where school officials used to say send children to school even if they're not feeling good. "Now, it's if you don't feel good, stay home."
Dennis said his staff is on high alert. "Somebody is symptomatic, boom, the red light goes off," he said.
The new normal is bringing new innovations, too. In Elmore County, students now use an app to order lunches, which are then prepackaged and ready for students.
Most children are learning online
While most of the schools that are now open are doing in-person and virtual school, by the time all schools are open after Labor Day, State Superintendent Eric Mackey said they expect up to 70% of Alabama's students to be learning online.
He said that includes the 250,000 students whose schools are only offering virtual lessons and another 260,000 whose families have chosen virtual school for their children.
There have been problems with getting devices delivered, Hollingsworth said, and that delays parents and students getting up and running. "Obviously, they're having to alter their plan," he said.
And while some school districts had experience with virtual learning prior to the coronavirus shutdowns, in some areas, the whole process is new, particularly in the younger grade levels.
"Naturally when you start working with a new LMS (learning management system), there's a learning curve. We're hearing some of that from students and staff," Hollingsworth said.
Dennis said teachers are spending a lot of effort getting familiar with teaching online and the tools to do it. Tyler said teachers in his district are transitioning to their "satellite classrooms" and will begin classwork next week.
Tyler said the virtual elementary and secondary virtual schools, with more than 3,000 students on each campus, will be two of the largest virtual schools in Alabama. "I truly believe that virtual education, in some form, will be the future of education regardless of COVID," Tyler said.
While virtual education may be part of the future, Milner isn't sold on the results.
"We'll do whatever it takes to stay in school," Milner said. "One good thing about COVID19 is it has shown us that while online learning might be a good option for a very small percentage of student, for the masses, it's not effective."
Dennis said parents need schools to be open. "I have parents who don't get a paycheck when they don't go to work, and their children come to school, and I'm going to provide an open door for them."
Keeping schools open
Hollingsworth said superintendents across the state are doing everything they can to keep schools open but keeping COVID cases out of schools and also from becoming outbreaks is really up to the community.
"Most of this is in the community's hands," Hollingsworth said. "We have the children that come to school from 7:30 to 3. We have to have their help with other pieces of the day."
Hollingsworth said the next big challenge will be when athletic games begin next week. He's concerned that bringing spectators on campuses adds another layer of exposure. "We are going to need our spectators to understand the (state's) health order, wear masks, and maintain social distancing in the stands."
By the end of next week, another 70 school districts will be open, some bringing smaller groups of students back only a couple of days a week, others offering school only virtually, and still others open five days a week for students.
As more schools open, Hollingsworth asks for parents and families to be patient with schools as they shift and change, adapting to keep students and staff safe. "We're getting new information constantly."
But all in all, so far, so good.
"It's just kind of a relief to get school started," Hollingsworth said. "Opening schools gives them some sense of normalcy," he added. "Like 'hey we're having school'. We may have fewer kids and we may have PPE on, but it's school."
"Things are going well in Baldwin County," Tyler wrote, "but I didn't expect things would go this well."
“Will things be this good next week? I have no idea. We had problems this week and we resolved them. We have things I want us to improve upon, but at the same I certainly expected more challenges than what we saw.”
For all of AL.com’s back to school coverage, click here.
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