WESTON — The Athena-Weston School District is getting students in the classroom for in-person learning. District staff hope that vaccinations for teachers and in-school COVID-19 testing will help make the return to in-person learning safe.

K-8 students are on campus from 8 a.m. to noon daily, Superintendent Laure Quaresma said. So far, she said it has gone well.

“Kids are very happy to be back in-person and are very focused during their time at school,” Quaresma said.

Those grades will be switching to full days March 1.

As in most districts, high schoolers have the longest wait to return to the classroom. However, the end of full-time distancing learning is in sight.

The district was set to hold a freshman orientation Friday, Feb. 12, at Weston-McEwen High School, Quaresma said.

“Many (freshman) have never been on the campus as there was no in-person transition last spring or this fall,” Quaresma said.

High school students return Feb. 22 with half days in classroom using a hybrid schedule.

The district will soon offer in-school COVID-19 tests. The state mandates schools with high COVID-19 case rates to offer the tests by March 1 if they reopen for in-person or hybrid learning.

Only for symptomatic and exposed students and staff will be eligible for tests. Abbott BinaxNOW rapid point-of-care antigen test will be used, which takes 15 minutes to return a result.

Tests will be administered by school staff.

“We’re training on that right now,” Quaresma said. “If a kid shows symptoms at school, we’ll be trained to do a COVID test. That will help us with our contact tracing because we would know right then and there if we have a COVID positive.”

Tests are not mandatory. Students must have a signed parent consent form to test.

“There will be nobody who will be forced to test,” Quaresma said.

Many of the district’s teachers have received a COVID-19 vaccination, she said.

In many districts, one road block to returning students to the classroom is teachers worried to return while COVID-19 cases remain high.

The vaccine becoming available to teachers has helped make them feel more comfortable with plans to reopen, Quaresma said.

Over 80% of the district’s teachers have been vaccinated and that number will be closer to 100% by March 1.

That number won’t quite reach 100%, because there are a few teachers who opted of vaccination.