MACON, Ga. — Bibb County Schools went back to school on Monday! Some students returned to the school building, but others stayed home for their first day of virtual learning through the VIP Academy.
"I went to horse camp, right now we are up in the mountains," Sophia Vandyke said.
After a summer full of fun, Sophia Vandyke is ready for her first day in the fifth grade.
"Meeting my teachers, doing scratch carding, and art," Vandyke said.
Sophia is just one of 550 kids participating in Bibb County Schools' virtual learning option.
"I had been researching virtual schools and this really is the best of all possible worlds, it has the teachers keeping an eye on her once a week, the Bibb teachers keeping an eye on her everyday," Sophia's grandmother Jackie Folsom said.
Folsom says COVID-19 was a big concern, plus she felt the academy gives greater flexibility for learning.
"But, the convenience for us outweighs everything else," Folsom said.
Director of Personalized Learning Doctor Julia Daniely says her staff spent the summer getting kids like Sophia ready for first day of school.
"I have had the vendor to come and do sessions with our stakeholders, I've had learning coach training for our elementary students, for our parents, because the elementary students will need more support," Daniely said.
Daniely says students in K-12 and parents took part in a orientation session to prepare for the first day. Daniely hopes the virtual environment will not only be safe but prepare students like Sophia for the future.
"I just don't feel like she is going to drop through the cracks in anyway, because of all of the advantages of this particular school," Folsom said.