Elementary school students return to the classroom at Santa Barbara Unified District

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Kids at Santa Barbara Unified School District hopped out of their parent's cars and went to class in-person for the first time this school year. The district is slowly reopening for in-person learning.

There was a lot of excitement from teachers, students and parents during drop-off. Monday is the 119th day of school, but the first in-person session for the 2020-2021 school year.

At Monroe Elementary School, like the rest of Santa Barbara Unified School District, they’re easing back into the in-person learning. They only have TK, which is between preschool and kindergarten, as well as kindergarten and 1st grade in-person.

Of those classes resuming in-person learning, only half of the students are in the classroom at a time. The other half of the students are on zoom. The students rotate two days at home, two days at school and the other day is remote for everyone.

Ellen Hunter is a kindergarten teacher at Monroe Elementary School. She and some of her other teachers are using the terms "zoomies" for students at home and "roomies" for those who are in class.

“We have to be adaptable," said Hunter. "We have to be resilient. We have to kind of persevere and figure it out and keep going."

She continued, "So it's going to work well. We have a good relationship, which is important. They know me and I'm just focused now on even kind of building stronger relationships in-person. That's really my goal."

Later this week, Santa Barbara Unified School District will resume in-person learning for the rest of the elementary school kids, second through sixth grade.

“It’s very doable and following all of the protocols," Said Hunter. "So I’ve been excited since day one. And really pushing this for so long so I’m so happy the day is finally here. Yeah, it feels really good.”

Also this week, educators in the district will start getting vaccinated. The superintendent said they will have more than 100 educators get their shots this week. And they will start with those who teach special needs and need more close contact learning.

The parents NewsChannel talked to said they were excited to see their students go off to the classroom. Some parents were a bit nervous about their kids being around more kids than normal during the pandemic. But they said it’s worth the risk.