(ST. JOSEPH Mo) Andrea and Charles Simmons are doing something they haven't done in months... dropping their daughter off to school.

“Well she’s an extrovert, so she's excited to be welcomed by her friends but she's nervous for all the unknowns, all the new-ness again," said Andrea Simmons.

Concerns the family have, also linger.

“My concerns was her learning with a teacher having a mask over her mouth but i'm sure that she’ll learn well, we feel good about it," said Simmons.

While COVID still has a high positivity rate in the county, the Simmons family says that even with covid, they still have other worries. 

“We were so worried about the COVID aspect, given that she is young and we’re all healthy…. We were mostly concerned about the learning with masks and hearing and seeing the teacher and that can really hinder the learning process," said Simmons.

Bode Middle School is another one of the many schools that are back to five days of in-school learning.

“It’s so great, it was so nice today to have all of our kids in the building. our teachers are exciting, us administrators were excited, all of our staff and our team we’re just so happy to have all of our kids here," said Bode Principal Dr. Sarah Barmann-Smith.

While schools across the district are returning like Bode, Dr. Smith is making sure her school is following the correct protocols to keep students and staff safe. 

”We are making sure that all of our students are properly wearing their face masks, covering their nose and their mouth. we are making sure our kids are social distancing and having proper handwashing as well," said Barmann-Smith.

The St. joseph School District will also be monitoring the schools to keep an eye on if COVID cases increase throughout the schools.

The School District made the decision to go back to five days of in-person learning believing it will be beneficial for students.

But understand that there are scenarios where Hybrid Learning would have to make a return.