LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — Parents with children in the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District can begin making changes on Wednesday, October 21 for their preferred learning options. Administrators say five- day-a-week classes will resume for many students next month.

District parents can request to shift their children’s enrollment status, moving from online only to in-person instruction, or from in-classroom to virtual.

More kids are expected to return to school November 16 for five day a week, face-to-face classes in kindergarten through sixth grade.

The district says social distancing may not be possible to the degree it’s currently being implemented in buildings that have had fewer students.

Cheryl Collier said her grandchildren are attending private school five days a week. She said she believes wearing masks has been a difference-maker in keeping the virus out of the classrooms.

“They have been (wearing masks) since they went back toward the end of August,” Collier said. “It’s just been working very well. I think they’ve had very little trouble at the school, so I do think masks are key.”

Eastern Jackson County continues to see an increase in COVID-19 infections, but across the nation, there’s evidence that the spread is not tied to schools with a mask-wearing requirement.

Changing the learning mode in Lee’s Summit schools applies only to children who are in kindergarten through sixth grade. The youngest kids have hybrid learning until the switch to full-time classroom instruction next month.