WILMINGTON, N.C. — As a private school, Myrtle Grove Christian School receives no state funding and was able to independently decide how it would structure learning this school year in the midst of the pandemic.

After considering parents' wishes as well as the choices of other schools around the world, administration made the decision to have all students and staff return to in-person classes at the beginning of last August.

“The predictability helped the parents too, we didn't have to spring it on them and say, 'We're changing our schedule now because things have changed,'” says Dr. Dirk Mroczek, the head of the school.

The model the school is currently following lines up more with colleges and universities than it does other public K-12 schools. Mroczek says the school anticipated a second spike of the virus after Thanksgiving and over the holidays and so the school made the decision at the outset of the school year to go fully remote after Thanksgiving break and remain that way until the new year.

“This break that we built in gave them time to self-isolate if they needed to and then they could go visit and they could travel,” Mroczek says.

Teachers were happy to have advance notice on the schedule for remote and in-person learning. Preschool teacher Marley Hall says this not only gave her a chance to prepare, but also a chance to practice what remote instruction would be like with her young learners.

“I feel like it worked out this time around knowing we were going into distance learning for the holidays, because we were really able to prepare the kids,” Hall says. “We were able to do trial runs before we even left school, so that I think made a huge difference.”

While remote learning isn't ideal for Hall's 4-year-old students, she says she's been impressed at how adaptable they are and how smoothly the transition took place.

“You would be surprised though how engaged they really are, and we try to keep it short, 5-ish minutes at a time, and then they're off to do an activity,” Hall says.

She and other staff say they're grateful they don't have to juggle a combination of remote and in-person students at the same time.