HAMPTON, Va. — Different districts and divisions have plans for the first quarter of the new school year.
Hampton City Public Schools board members voted to have teachers instruct virtually, from inside their classrooms, at least three days a week.
13News Now spoke with teachers on the decision, some say they are ready to get back to class even if it's in an empty room.
“I’m so excited,” said Andrews Pre-K-8 math teacher Louis Brown.
Brown said he’s looking forward to helping students learn tough material, by demonstrating the concepts on his smartboard.
“We were working on Pythagorean theorem and volume,” said Brown. “It’ll be a lot easier for them."
Phillips Elementary School 5th-grade teacher Angela Dandridge said she plans to teach out of her classroom three days a week, too.
“This is my routine. I know it, I know exactly ‘Oh wait, I’ll grab it right here, come on guys, come walk with me,’” said Dandridge.
Also, in elementary school, but at Barron Elementary, first-grade teacher Maureen Houser said kids need visuals to learn.
“In order to get a message across, I have to have the tools to do that,” said Houser.
She’s helped create a curriculum for teachers to use, this fall.
“So we’ve been very thoughtful in making sure we are giving ample opportunity for the children to be engaging with us,” said Houser.
Houser said it's that engagement that can increase too, with all teachers having the resources in the classroom. In order to protect teachers in the building, the division also ordered personal protective equipment.
That includes 2,000 one-gallon hand sanitizers for schools and 5,500 cloth facemasks for employees.
Even now, some rooms have plastic shields for when students return, but for now, all three teachers told us they feel safe returning to empty classes and colleagues.
“As long as we’re all following the rules that we are supposed to be following to be a great member of our community, which we will, then we will be safe,” said Houser.
“Most of all, I miss my students. Being in the classroom is in the first step and hopefully, sometime soon we can get back to whatever normal will be,” Brown said.