COVINGTON, Ky. — As some schools in Kentucky return to in-person classes, students are met with new requirements. That's the case for Villa Madonna Academy in Northern Kentucky.

“I am super-duper, super-duper, super-duper excited,” said Kerrigan Stapleton, who is starting her fourth-grade year at Villa Madonna.

“These are my masks, and I have this mask necklace thing,” Kerrigan said.

Her mother, Brittany, spent the last few weeks making lanyards for masks and stocking up on spare ones just in case.

Compared to her experience in third grade, Kerrigan noted that lunch will be different.

“We sat with each other at tables last year, and so we can’t do that now because of this, because we have to stay six feet apart,” Kerrigan said.

Along with packing a lunch and water bottle, part of the new checklist requires parents to complete a health assessment. This includes checking temperatures and monitoring symptoms. The school will also recheck as students arrive to campus.

“My husband works in the healthcare industry, so we’ve been really open about the procedures he’s taking at work. They’ve seen all the cleaning supplies that we’ve been buying and understanding that. I’m trying to talk to them in a way, to where it’s not scary but being proactive so that way they’re prepared when to go in,” Brittany said.

Kerrigan said another change is that teachers will rotate classes while students remain in the same room, all part of the effort to prevent spreading the virus.

“We usually switch classes, but if we switch classes, then we would get germs from other people,” Kerrigan said.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D) recommended delaying in-person learning to Sept. 28, but Villa Madonna Academy is one of the several private schools across the state to start with in-person classes.