MELBOURNE, Fla. – Allison Varney and her son, Austin, were all smiles Monday as they walked to Longleaf Elementary for the first day of school.
Varney said she’s confident Austin will be safe at school despite the number of COVID-19 cases.
“I think that with the spacing, with the masks and everything like that, that’s the best we can do. It’s not going away. That’s our new normal,” Varney said.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Mullins welcomed back students at Longleaf Elementary, along with school principal.
Mullins said right now they are trying to figure out how many students in the district are actually back in school for face-to-face learning.
“We anticipate there are a few thousand families that haven’t registered yet, but it’s not unusual for our families to wait until the start of school. This year comes with a lot changes, even with the start of school being delayed,” he said.
Principal Jason Sherburne said he’s happy to see students back in the building again.
“We are just under 400 students. We have a little over 150-160 e-learning kids, but that’s quite a few kids coming back into the building,” Sherburne said.