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The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated many changes in our communities over the past eight months.

From the way we eat to the way we congregate for worship or important meetings, we have learned to adapt and adjust to the environment created by the need to social distance to help curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Perhaps, one of the biggest adjustments we have had to make as a society during the COVID-19 pandemic is the way we educate our children.

Education is vital to the future of our communities and nation, and schools have had to come up with ways to ensure that students receive the vital educations they deserve despite the pandemic.

Classrooms with large groups of people meeting in enclosed spaces are perfect environments for spreading COVID-19.

Therefore, public schools are offering virtual learning via the internet and 80% of the Natchez Adams School District’s students are attending online only classes.

Those students still need to have not only learning materials transported back and forth between schools and homes but also need to have their meals delivered to them as well.

NASD is contracting with Durham School Services to use school buses to deliver those supplies and meals to the students during the pandemic.

Last month state auditors said the previous contract with Durham was not acceptable because a clause said the district would pay Durham whether services were rendered or not.

Enlisting the buses to transport meals and supplies during the pandemic, will keep the buses running and the bus drivers employed during the pandemic, and it also will keep the contract with Durham in effect since only 20% of the district’s students are attending in-person classes on two days per week.

Hopefully, soon, the buses can return to transporting students full time instead of just meals and supplies.