LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Excitement is building for students heading back to class in Loudoun County. Officials are keeping a close eye on the Delta variant. Students will be required to wear masks and keep three feet apart as recommended by the CDC.
Superintendent Scott Ziegler said he's looking forward to the year ahead, despite some lingering uncertainty.
"We're excited to be welcoming our students back to school five days a week. That's the dream. And that's the goal, to keep them in school as long as possible, or as much as possible," Zeigler said. "The nightmare is the opposite of that. That somehow conditions would worsen and we would be forced back into a distance learning situation."
Zeigler said there will be extra resources available to help students readjust to the classroom setting after a year of learning from home.
"Our hope and our goal [for the first half of the year] is to get students used to coming back to schools," he said. "We've got extra counselors that we've hired this year. We have a mental health task force that are going to help students with that transition back into the school building. We know that last year was rough for some of our students. So as we move forward from that, we want to make sure we are supporting the whole student."
Beyond the initial transition, Zeigler said schools are going to take an individual approach to help students and address any potential learning gaps from the past year.
"We are going to take a look at individual level, where our students are academically, and then we are going to make up for the time lost in school last year," Zeigler said. "We know it's not a one-size-fits-all answer. So we are going to look at students and data on the individual student level."
Zeigler said teachers are also excited to get back to the classroom, even though masks will be required in the classroom.
"I talked with a teacher just last week and said, 'What are your thoughts about masks in the classroom?' He said, 'Dr. Ziegler, I really don't care about masks I just want to be back with my students.'"
In addition to those students returning to full-time in-person learning, about 600 students have opted to stay virtual. There is a waitlist for that option. If families are interested, they're encouraged to contact their school as soon as possible.