The decision was made to allow these students to return one week earlier because they will be entering new buildings for the first time this school year and it will give them additional time to get acclimated in smaller groups. The following week, additional students will be phased back in, with the district planning to maintain 25 percent capacity each day throughout March, said Superintendent Michael Thomas. "The weeks of the 9th, 16th, we would then phase the other students in at the 25 percent to keep, again, the numbers in the classroom would stay low," Thomas said. "You get everybody used to being back in the building, make sure we're servicing the social-emotional needs of our students, making sure we're supporting our staff. We would do that 25 percent through March and then, hopefully, by that time vaccines are rolled out and we can start to bring in students in larger groups as we get into April."