SAN ANTONIO — Castle Hill Elementary School students began classes on Tuesday with distance learning as coronavirus cases continue to rise in Bexar County.

The North East Independent School District elementary is a year-round magnet school and the first to open its doors to San Antonio students for the new school year. On the first day of class, the Barrera family noticed the online format was similar to the spring semester but more structured.

“All of the teachers have a schedule to do Zoom meetings throughout the day,” said Jeannie Barrera, Castle Hills parent.

Barrera's two sons, Mateo and Andres, attend the school and use district-issued laptops to get their work done. It's a learning curve for Barrera but not for her young students.

"I'm not familiar with HP laptops, so that was user error on my part," Barrera said.

In early July, the Texas Education Agency mandated school buildings open their doors every days of the next school year for families who want to send their students back to school. However, it allowed schools to limit in-person instruction in the first three weeks. For the time being, Castle Hill is remaining on a virtual real-time learning schedule.

"Obviously we wanted Mateo and Andres to go back, but with everything being unknown, our safety and health comes first," Barrera said.

District leaders are continuing to lean on state and local guidelines before announcing in-person options at a later date. While distance learning works for this family, Barrera hopes her sons can return to school at some point under safe conditions.

"We just keep telling [the boys] we have to be flexible and just go with the flow," she said.