EDMONTON -- Students in St. Albert's Catholic and public school systems returned to class for the first time in months on Monday.
Staff and students will be asked to follow increased safety measures amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents who spoke to CTV News on Monday morning said they're concerned about the risk of their children contracting the coronavirus.
"It is nice to have that normalcy back in our lives again and the kids are excited to see their friends and their teachers," said Cindy Andrews, mom to two kids returning to school.
"I wish they had been given more time to prepare and a lot more money."
Parent Sally Gauthier said she's concerned about class sizes and cleaning protocols.
"You can't distance, and then the added cleaning and disinfecting," Gauthier said.
St. Albert has over 6,800 public school students and about 5,700 Catholic school students.
They are among the first to return in the Edmonton Metro region with Edmonton Catholic students return to class Wednesday and public students slated to go back on Thursday.
The Black Gold School Division pushed its start date back to Sept. 8.
