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Coweta County parents say new school year will be different but exciting for their kids

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — In Coweta County, students are waking up for their first day of school but things are going to look a lot different.

The district is doing all virtual learning for the next several weeks. The superintendent hopes to have students back in the classroom after Labor Day.

Parents told Channel 2 Action News that they are ready.

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“They’ve given us Chromebooks for all of our kids so we’ve logged on to our Google classrooms. Our teachers have been over communicating with us,” said parent Emily Brewer.

The mother of a 2nd and 4th grader said she’s also had to change her mindset.

“Our kids feed off of our energy, so although as a mom I’m stressed because I’m having to rearrange our schedule, if my kids see that, it’s going to make a hard situation harder for them. So the main way I’ve been preparing is just with my attitude,” Brewer said.

Kim Register has a 6th grader in the district and prefers in-person learning but is still excited for daughter to start middle school.

“Given the situation we’re gonna just kind of roll with the punches and be as positive as we can with what we have to deal with and hopefully we can go back soon,” Register said.

Brewer said the pandemic has taught her family to handle unforeseen situations with grace and she just hopes her kids have a great year.

“If doing virtual schools saves the life of one kid, you can’t fault them for that,” Brewer said.

The district’s superintendent said the decision for online learning came after a rise in COVID-19 in the county.

“We intended to go back face-to-face to begin the school year but we did start to see change in transmission levels with COVID in the community so I felt like the best approach would a conservative approach,” said Coweta County Superintendent Evan Horton. “The main reason behind the decision is to try to ensure the health and safety of everyone.”