“They are so excited and so ready to go back," she said. She calls virtual learning a beautiful resource, but said she wants her children learning in person. “I’m really a proponent of them being back in the building - of course under safe conditions, but definitely not afraid of my students, my children to be back in the classroom,” Hawley said. Today, the Chesapeake COVID-19 positivity rate is 22.8%, which is the highest in Hampton Roads. That’s one reason a mother of three, Samantha Lester, said she doesn't think it's safe for in-person learning. “Not only am I concerned about them sending children back to school, and the staff members right now," Lester started. "They continue to abandon the metrics they told us they would abide by when it came to the positivity rate and case incident rates this summer.”