GREECE, N.Y. (WROC) — “I want to be ready the minute I can to get our kids back to school,” says Kathleen Graupman, the Superintendent of Schools in Monroe County. Graupman says when it comes to the Centers for Disease Control’s 3-feet rule for schools, she’s moving forward with district teams. But the 3-feet rule she says, is a new challenge.

“We have to plan,” Graupman said. “It’s going to take us weeks to get all that right and get the furniture back and shift out things.”

Other hurdles that will vary from district to district include shifting schedules, and other areas where the 6-feet rule would still apply — like the cafeteria. Buses and safe transportation is going to be a separate issue to figure out. One possibility at this point — filling buses two-thirds of the way up.

“We’re looking to make sure windows are down,” says Graupman.

Graupman says educators she’s spoken with want to take advantage of the remainder of this school year.

“I think, by and large, most of our teachers really desperately want kids back, too,” she said. “We see what this has done to our children, we want to see some normalcy, get our kids back from a social/emotional perspective.”

“Before any of this can actually happen, we need the state and the county to issue guidance,” says Shawn Van Scoy, Superintendent of Gananda Schools in Wayne County.

Van Scoy says only so much can be done right now in terms of planning, something Graupman also said. Both said Albany has to put out their own guidance on the 3-feet rule. Once that happens, districts can move forward with individual plans.

“A majority of parents want their kids back in school every day,” he says. “Once we get the notice, we could probably start implementing within probably 3 weeks.”

Gananda already has some grades back to mostly full in-person learning. In terms of fast-tracking a full return, Gananda is going to be different than other schools and vice-versa.

Graupman says in Monroe County, the plans they are drafting up now could go out the window tomorrow, depending on what the state says.

“I’m not the ‘end all, be all,’ there are people I do report to,” says Graupman.

Graupman did say a lot of this still depends on transmission rates. If we see a ‘spring break surge’ of COVID cases, that could mean these back-to-school plans get shelved by the State until transmission rates go back down.

Graupman says April 19th, the beginning of the fourth quarter, is a day they are currently targeting to get everyone back in-class depending on what guidelines come out.