School’s back in session

Students have been attending school in Douglas County in person since August, with some elementary and Lake schools both full-time and in-person.

So why make such a big deal out of the Carson Valley secondary schools returning to full-time classroom instruction?

It’s a sign that maybe things are starting to get back to normal after a year in the coronasphere.

ASPIRE Academy, which leases space from Western Nevada College, will be the last of the Douglas schools to wrap up the hybrid model when students return next week.

When ASPIRE students return on Monday, it won’t be quite the same as when the lockdown hit almost a year to the day ago.

When school started in August, parents, staff and school board trustees struggled with what that would look like.

The hybrid model they devised allowed the schools to reopen to reduced populations in order to maintain social distancing and mask requirements.

That meant students would alternate in-person and virtual instruction. But the pretty obvious slow-down in the rate of coronavirus infections and the rapid increase in the number of vaccinated residents have resulted in reduced requirements.

The return of sports to Douglas and Whittell high schools didn’t just happen, but was the result of hard work.

While there are still students enrolled in Douglas Nevada Online, some of them may return to regular instruction, as well.

It’s important that we look back and recognize the struggle Douglas County faced in March 2020, and celebrate at least some reduction in that struggle.

But we should continue to be cautious so that whatever hard-fought victories we’ve achieved don’t succumb to a spring surprise.

In the meantime, events, both scholastic and community, are coming back to Carson Valley, and we couldn’t be happier.