LAUREL COUNTY BACK TO SCHOOL

LAUREL COUNTY BACK TO SCHOOL

And i'm tom kenny.

In our top story at 11... there is still about a month to go before students can safely return to class in-person...per the governor's recommendation.

C1 3 kella collins: "sending them to school this morning, i actually got to breathe a little bit."

After coming home from nursing school four days a week...kella collins says it was hard helping her first and third graders with their homework...especia lly because she had some of her own.

Kella collins, no cg: "i am basically the primary care holder, 24/7.

I do everything."

So she pushed for laurel county schools to hold in- person classes...and says so far...so good.

Kella collins, no cg: "drop off went really well.

They were doing temps before the kids even got out of the vehicle."

Her daughter...kayleigh lunsford...says safety measures...such as social distancing and masks...continued throughout the day...even though it didn't always make her happy.

Kayleigh lunsford, no cg: "it was good except we didn't really get to have recess."

She says she was only allowed to interact with her classmates...about 11 students.

...she felt safe.

But...the president of the laurel county education association...pam elkins...a teacher at south laurel middle school...says she doesn't share the feeling.

Pam elkins: "why are we going against what the governor recommended?"

Governor andy beshear suggested all schools hold off on in-person classes until september 28th...which laurel county originally agreed to...calling off its original plan to start in august.

Pam elkins: "we've been working so hard to get everything ready and for all of a sudden to say 'oh it's not working.'

It was a shock."

Under the new plan...parents can choose to keep their child home...or send them to class everyday.

Elkins says that doesn't give her an option...she has a 10-year-old asthmatic son who can't stay home while she's at school.

"i love my students, and i want nothing more than for everything to go back to normal, but i just don't think we should try to push things ahead because we want to."

In laurel county...bobbi mcswine...abc 36 news.

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