Photos by Deb Gau There may be a few more desks in the room, but classes at West Side Elementary in Marshall are still following social distancing rules, as school staff prepare for students to return to in-person learning today.

MARSHALL — In some ways, class won’t be much different — students will still be wearing masks and social distancing.

But starting today, elementary school students at Marshall Public Schools will all be back together, instead of learning from home once a week.

“I think teachers are pretty excited to have students back and, students are in the same boat,” said West Side Elementary Principal Peter Thor.

Thor and Park Side Elementary Principal Darci Love said it will be good for younger students to be back in the classroom full time.

“Our kids need to be here every day, especially at this age,” Love said. “Having kids at home one day a week has been a challenge.”

Elementary school students at Marshall Public Schools will be returning to in-person learning full time today. Teachers and school staff had Friday and Monday as prep days for the transition, but a lot of the strategies that will be followed at Park Side and West Side are continuations of what the schools have already been doing, Love and Thor said.

“I think we’ve had a really great foundation,” in focusing on health and safety at school, Love said. Plus, parents and families in the school district have been very supportive, she said.

Area school districts have each had different plans to help keep students and school staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some districts currently have in-person learning, others are in hybrid learning mode or are going through a “rolling start,” bringing students back gradually.

MPS Superintendent Jeremy Williams said a rolling start will need to be included as the Marshall district works out a plan for bringing middle and high school students back to in-person learning.

MPS started the school year under a hybrid learning model, with students spending one or two days a week learning from home. But that model has changed as numbers of COVID-19 cases in the community and among school staff members have fluctuated. Students went to distance learning in November, and gradually returned to hybrid learning in January.

Love and Thor said it will be especially helpful for younger MPS students to be back in the classroom full time.

“So much of the learning that goes on at this grade level is interaction,” with both classmates and teachers, Thor said. When only 80% of students were at West Side at a time, it meant students might only see some classmates on certain days.

Thor said it’s also good for teachers to have all their students back in the classroom. When some of the class is on distance learning every day, it means doing additional planning and teaching with those students.

Classrooms at Park Side and West Side will still follow social distancing rules, with desks spread out and plastic dividers used at tables. New MDH guidance allows for students to be spaced three feet apart instead of six, but Love and Thor said they were still being cautious about distancing.

“I’ve encouraged my staff to continue to do as much spacing as we can,” Thor said. Similar to earlier in the year, classroom spaces are being carefully used to spread out students’ desks.

Thor said West Side will be limiting student groups’ exposure to each other by not using the cafeteria and having different student groups assigned to different parts of the playground at recess. Students will also need to wear masks even during gym class — which might be one of the bigger adjustments students will have to make, Thor said.

Riding the school bus will be different when students come back to class today. Kids will have assigned seats, and some vents and windows on the buses will be open one or two inches to allow extra ventilation, Thor said.

Love said Park Side students will also have assigned seating and increased ventilation on the school bus. At Park Side, classes will also continue to have only limited exposure to other groups of students. Classes will stay in set groups during lunchtime and at recess, Love said.

Both West Side and Park Side will continue to have regular cleaning of high-touch surfaces, and students will still be taught hand-washing and good hygiene.

Learning plans have been different among area school districts this year, depending on the number of students, available space, and COVID numbers at each school. Some school districts are currently offering in-person learning for all students, including Lakeview, Lynd and Ivanhoe.

In Minneota, students in kindergarten through sixth grade have been back at school since Dec. 9, after a period of distance learning, said Minneota Superintendent Dan Deitte. Meanwhile, students in grades 7-12 have been gradually coming back to in-person classes, with grades 7-9 and 10-12 attending school in person on alternating days.

“We were able to make sure there were not going to be spikes (of COVID cases),” Deitte said. Grades 7-9 came back full time last week, and grades 10-12 will be back full time starting Feb. 1.

“We are definitely ready to have all our students back all the time,” Deitte said.

At Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, older students are attending school in hybrid mode, with one-third of students learning from home each day, said Superintendent David Marlette. But since the start of the year, students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade have been back in class full-time.

Getting personal interaction with teachers and classmates is especially important for younger students, Marlene said.

“How do you do distance learning with a kindergartener?” he said.