GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — It's been a long wait for Green Bay parents who've wanted their kids to return to the classroom.
Now it's about three weeks away.
"We know that the classroom is the most valuable asset to our kids learning in many ways. It opens the doors for new learning opportunities. It opens up our kids to be exposed to other adults to have other interactions with caring individuals in their life", said Jeff Strommen who has two kids attending the Green Bay Area Public School District.
For nearly a year, Strommen said some of those interactions have been missing.
"I know it was a transition for a lot of us to move to a virtual model. I have kids in 1st and third grade", Strommen said.
But that's not a unanimous thought.
One parent and educator disagrees with the decision to return.
"I wanted an opportunity to get the vaccine at least started prior to returning into school", said Joe McCabe who is a general instrumental music teacher at Lombardi High School.
He said the health and safety for him and his students is the most important thing.
"Every teacher that I know wants to be back in school with their kids, but they want to make that sure that they're safe and they don't have to back up. We don't want to have a mass infection", McCabe said.
In the meantime, as students get ready to return, school officials say to keep one thing in mind.
"Parents need to know that schools not going to look like how it did in February. So, every aspect of this operation of each individual school is being examined and possibly changed in order to consider the safety of everyone involved", said Eric Vanden Heuvel, Board President for the Green Bay Area Public School District.
