ROYAL CITY — The first day of school was a little different for the students at Red Rock Elementary.

Nancy Peterson talked to every child going in the front door, asking them if they had a sore throat, or a cough that wouldn’t go away. Sally Bishop took every child’s temperature as they entered.

And not every student was allowed in the front door. Kids whose classrooms were not in the central section had to enter by a different door. They too had to answer questions and have their temperatures taken.

Parents could not escort children to class. Parents couldn’t enter the building at all.

August 28 was the first day of the new school year for Royal School District in the ongoing era of COVID-19. Royal was one of the first local districts to start school, and the first that’s opening with some in-person instruction.

“We realize we’re a little bit of an experiment,” district superintendent Roger Trail said.

Even the Red Rock playground is different – it was roped off into sections. Principal David Andra said each class is assigned a section, and that’s where they play when it’s time for recess. Classes stay together and don’t mix with each other, Andra said.

The district offered the option of all-online instruction, Trail said, and parents of about 400 students opted for that. The rest are attending school in a “hybrid” model, where they are getting on-campus instruction part time and online instruction part time. So, Aug. 28 was only the first day of school for half the kids attending in the hybrid model.

Schools were closed in March in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and eventually the closure extended to the end of the school year, with instruction moved online. Staff members were excited to see the kids after five months with only online contact, Trail said.

Final enrollment numbers won’t be available for a few days. As of the first day of school, kindergarten enrollment was pretty close to the previous year, Trail added.

The district’s 2020-21 budget estimated Royal would have the equivalent of 1,686 students.

Trail said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a small drop in enrollment, in the circumstances. But while some families may be going elsewhere, other families are opting to use school choice to come to Royal, he said.

In most cases children are assigned to the school district where their family lives, but parents have the right to send their children to a different district if the new district will accept them. Trail said it was too early to tell why those parents were opting to come to Royal.