The 13-year-old will return to his private school
in about three weeks.
“Some kids will be more responsible than others.
I’m not looking forward to it but I’ve got to go
school so I’d rather be there in person,” Peter said.
Not yet 5, kindergartner Rivington Hall in
Westport, Connecticut, will begin her first big-
kid year in September, at least in part on Zoom
after finishing preschool at home.
“I’d rather go to school because it has more toys
and it’s more fun,” she said as she munched on
animal crackers and sipped from a juice box.
Anxious parents around the country are looking
to schools that have already opened for signs
of how it might go. One, North Paulding High
School in suburban Atlanta, rescinded a five-day
suspension for a student who shared photos
and video of crowded hallways and few students
in masks after doors opened this month.
The school has since suffered an outbreak
of COVID-19, along with other schools in
hard-hit Georgia.
Nearly 50 miles away in Alpharetta, Georgia,
10-year-old Collier Evans will attend school
remotely when he begins fifth grade Aug. 17. He
could have gone in person full time or picked a
blended option but said he was anxious about
returning to school.
“My parents and me, we said we don’t want to
go in a classroom, get sick and then I’d bring it
home and get my family sick,” Collier said.
As for distance learning, he said: “I hope it’s
going to go better than last year. You had to wait
in a queue for like 30 minutes to ask the teacher
one question.”