As a new school year started this week, Park County School District 1 welcomed more students to in-person and virtual classes. On Tuesday, 1,804 students were enrolled in the Powell-based district, up from 1,765 on the first day last year.

That number will likely fluctuate as “we’re still enrolling kids,” Superintendent Jay Curtis told the Powell school board Tuesday evening.

While the vast majority of local students attended Tuesday’s classes in-person, others logged on for their first day with the Park #1 Virtual Academy. This school year, the district launched its own K-12 virtual school, serving students in the Big Horn Basin. Students are provided with a Chromebook and internet, if needed, to access their virtual classes.

As of Tuesday, 25 students were fully enrolled in Powell’s virtual academy, with “several in the pipeline currently,” Curtis said. The district’s goal was to enroll 30 to 40 students in the first year, “and I think we’re going to meet that easily,” the superintendent said.

While in-person classes started without a mask requirement, some students and employees are choosing to wear face coverings, Curtis said. Schools are following other measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including social distancing.

The superintendent said he went through the elementary schools on Tuesday, and kids were spread out.

“So instead of all the kids in nice, neat little rows, shoulder to shoulder, you space out clusters of two to four students, depending, and 6 feet between those clusters,” Curtis said. “So if one is positive [for COVID], it’s not wiping out eight or 10 kids, it’s actually quarantining just a few other kids.”

The first day started with 11 students and staff in isolation after they tested positive for the novel coronavirus, while one person was in quarantine after being exposed to someone who tested positive, the superintendent said.

“Obviously, those exposures didn’t occur at school,” Curtis said. “They were exposed prior to school, and those people communicated with us.”

On Wednesday morning, district leaders learned that a student tested positive for COVID after attending the first day. As a result, 13 students were quarantined. Throughout the district, a total of 30 students or staff members were either in isolation or quarantine as of Wednesday morning, Curtis said.

The school district is closely tracking cases of COVID-19 and working with Park County Public Health. That includes a weekly Zoom meeting with County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin, superintendents in the county and school nurses.

As the new school year begins, Curtis said he’s optimistic, noting that vaccination rates are increasing. A variety of factors are at play, including the FDA’s final approval for the Pfizer vaccine this week. Some people were hesitant to get the shot initially, but are now taking advantage of it, Curtis said.

In addition, “the Delta variant is kind of scaring some folks, the way it’s rolling through, as quickly as it’s rolling through,” he said. “A lot of people are deciding that now is, in fact, the time.”

The district plans to work with public health to offer another optional vaccine clinic for any staff and students ages 12 and older who would like to get the vaccine. School nurses will assist like they did last year, Curtis said.

“Dr. Billin certainly rings this bell, that our very best tool in combating the spread of COVID is vaccination,” he said.