MIDLAND, Texas — Nothing is normal about this school year, that is for sure.
It's up to private schools to decide how they want to teach students this fall.
When students return to Trinity School Aug. 19, campus and class are going to look a little different.
“They will have their temperatures taken, they will be wearing face coverings, they will sanitize their hands when they get into the classroom and some classrooms will have plexiglass in places where they might be closer together," Shelby Hammer, head of Trinity School, said. "They will be eating lunch in their classroom instead of the commons so they can spread out.”
And teachers, well their lesson plans have been tweaked too.
“They learned a lot last spring with basically a week to shift from in-person to online learning but they really spent this summer building their skills in that area and not just using the technological skills but learning how you teach differently online," Hammer said.
While class will be in-person for a majority of the school's 618 students, about 16% of the students have opted to start the year doing remote learning.
“What we did last spring, we did in an emergency crisis mode," Hammer said. "If and when we have to move into 100% remote learning, we’ve had much more time to plan, consider and gather tools to plan our effectiveness.”
The plan Trinity has made is a bit different than charter schools or public schools, that is because virus precautions have been left up to Trinity, not the state or district, to make.
“Private schools do have the flexibility to make changes that are right for them," Hammer said. "Which that of course can change, but that’s what we have right now.”
Other private schools in the area like Midland Christian have opted for in-person classes as well.
But the big difference, they are not requiring students or faculty to wear masks.
We reached out to them for an interview on their reopen plan, but declined to interview with us.