GEORGETOWN, Ky. — For one middle school in Georgetown, in-person classes are underway, but things look a little different this year.
At St. John's Catholic School in Georgetown, students have been met with a new school building and a new set of school tules.
"They're six feet apart. The wearing of mask is completely different. So, their socialization is different. The way teachers teach is different because, especially the little ones, there's no more hugs or high fives. Basically, we try to lessen the contact," Principal Dan Mardell said.
Pastor Fr. Linh Nguyen believes it's important for the school to be open, given necesarry precautions are followed.
"I think it's very important for us to really need to be open, of course, with great cautiousness and necessary follow CDC," he said. "Follow the health department. Yes. But we feel it's important for us to open."
The decision to open up, however, was not an easy one.
"So, the teachers have much more responsibility as far as keeping their rooms clean, disinfecting. And so that takes a lot more time. The hand-washing. Also, the other thing that's a big difference is how the kids interact in the classroom," said Mardell.
The new safety protocols start right when kids arrive for school.
"We get our temperature checks outside before we go the class and then we come in. We have to put some hand sanitizer on our hands before we go to our desks. And then we wipe our desks out and then we put on our masks," said Hala Ammari, a student at St. John's.
Schools across the commonwealth struggle with the decision between in-person and online learning, but students at St. John's couldn't be happier.
"Things have been great. The teachers are awesome," said Ammari.