Aubri Juhasz / WWNO Originally published on January 22, 2021 12:25 pm After transitioning most students to online-only instruction two weeks ago, New Orleans public school officials are expected to revisit their decision Thursday. “Our recent shift here in our school system, it's not a step backwards, but rather, I have to remind everyone it was a necessary decision to help keep our students and our staff safe, to beat this pandemic, and to finally return to the classroom, not part-time, but full-time and permanently,” Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said at a school board meeting last week. Since schools reopened in the fall, the district has relied on several city-wide metrics when making operational decisions.