First day of in-person classes for Yuma Lutheran School

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Yuma Lutheran School is one of the only schools in Arizona who decided to return to full in-person instruction Monday amid the pandemic.

As the morning bell rang at 8:30 a.m Monday, students lined up outside their classrooms with masks on as teachers filled their palms with hand sanitizer before heading in.

The start of this school year isn't like any past school year.

Masks are required to be worn by everyone who steps foot on campus. And whenever students congregate, or if they're leaving their assigned desk seat, a mask must be worn.

Classroom sizes are smaller, amounting to about 18 per classroom. Desks spaced out six feet apart to allow a safe distance from each other.

Parents who used to be able to visit the campus are now unable to, to mitigate exposure of the virus to students.

If a student feels ill or is exposed to someone who has the coronavirus, school officials say they have a plan ready to go in case this happens. One of the methods is switching to remote learning if an outbreak were to occur within the school.

School officials say the school has been in close contact with the Yuma Health Department on safely reopening.

The principal of the private Christian school, Angela Schiller, is excited to have the students back and feels like the school has prepared well enough to allow students to be back in their classrooms.

The school is welcoming back more than 300 students to the classrooms, and Schiller says they have enrolled about 100 more students for the new school year.

For those families who are still uncomfortable with physically sending their child back to school, the school is still providing the option for remote learning.

After five months of being out of the classroom, parents from Yuma Lutheran School say they were ready for their child to be back, and are choosing to put faith over fear to get them through the pandemic.