Monday was the first day back at school for some James Clemens High School students who are taking part in traditional learning this school year.

This comes after the Madison City school district said high schools will start with a phased return.

WAAY-31 spoke with the principal at James Clemens about how today went.

Kids at James Clemens will be on an A-B schedule, which means half the student population came back Monday, and Tuesday the other half will come.

This will rotate and be in effect until further notice.

The principal said with everything going on he's still hopeful for a good semester.

"This caused us to be very aware of our surroundings and having to react to our surroundings but that comes with the territory but it comes with being a high school principal," said Brian Clayton.

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Clayton said students and teachers were happy to be back in the classroom.

As of Friday, the Madison City school district has more than 200 staff and students in quarantine from coronavirus.

Clayton says while it's been a rough start, they're still learning, adjusting and doing well.

"We look at this thing from the beginning of the day to the end of the day and that means from bussing in and arriving to school to going home from school," he said.

In the classroom there's Plexiglass, everyone is required to wear a face mask and they have delayed class change times to allow for fewer people in the hallways.

The students will be on a rotating A-B schedule where two days out of the week, they'll be in person and the other three they'll be virtual.

Clayton says the goal is to provide a safe environment for the best education.

"We're doing the best we possibly can and obviously reacting to the environment that we're in," he said.

Students at Madison city's other high school, Bob Jones High School, will not return until after Fall break on Monday, October 12th due to the number of staff members still in quarantine.