CARMEL, Ind. — As more schools in Indiana prepare to welcome students back for the fall, many parents are having to decide whether to send their kids back to school or keep them home for virtual learning.
"For me, these kids being able to go back and getting some sort of mental wellness and that benefit is just going to be pretty great after a very long couple months at home,” Cassie Perry said.
Perry has twins attending College Wood Elementary and an eighth grader attending Creekside in the Carmel-Clay school district.
Carmel-Clay reopens Thursday.
“They know to wear their masks. They know to wash their hands and I believe that the Carmel school system has done an excellent job of keeping us informed. I think their safety procedures that they have in place are well thought out,” Perry said.
Perry also has two teens doing in-person learning at Zionsville High School beginning Monday and a daughter who will be an incoming freshman at Indiana University.
Public school leaders say it will be difficult to meet the recommended six feet of social distancing in classrooms and many learning spaces, which is why it’s important for everyone wear masks to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Perry offered this advice for other parents:
“Just to take a little bit of pressure off of your shoulders and give each other as well as yourself grace because this is all something new to us for the first time and no one really has the answers and we’re going to have to just trust in one another that we’re doing the best that we can,” Perry said.