GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- It's been a back-and-forth year for Green Bay schools.
But there may not be anything more unpredictable than this.
The Green Bay Area Public School District voted to return to in-person learning for select students starting March 1.
"Give these kids some type of mental break from being on the computers all the time and just have that in-person connection again," parent and in-person learning advocate Stacy Heim said.
According to the district, 3K to 5th grade students will return four days a week starting March 1. Those students will attend class Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
"Yes...we are frustrated and we'd love to be able to see people and to do things that we did previously," said parent and virtual-school proponent Daniel Hatton. "But we know now is not the time yet."
A blended instructional model with A-B cohorts for grades 6 and 9 will also begin on March 1.
Some parents were shocked when they found out their kids could return in person at all this year. For one, the announcement is like a gut punch.
"The principal herself has said there's no way to socially distance in any realistic sense in that building," Hatton said about his child's school, Leonardo da Vinci School for Gifted Learners.
The district says grades 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 will begin a blended instructional model with A-B cohorts on March 8. Monday night's vote changes the previous plans to return to in-person learning on March 29.
It was previously decided students would return three weeks after staff gained access to a vaccine. The district says teachers could get a dose as soon as March 3. But some families aren't complaining.
"There's a lot of scared for nothing that these same people that are scared are going out and about doing things," Heim said. "But they won't send kids to school."
Hatton says he still won't bring his kids back in person until next school year.
"It's [Covid numbers] ebbing and flowing and 'oh the numbers are going down,'" Hatton said. "But then, of course, we're hearing about the new variants and what's gonna happen with that?"
But those who want their students in person are elated. Many of them didn't believe their kids would have the chance at all this year.
"They'll [students] like compete against each other," Heim said. "I think the kids are really missing that. And that's where they're struggling with the boredom."
