The school year begins Monday, Aug. 24, for students at Saint Augustine School in Hartford, and they’ll attend in person, Headmaster Marc Devoid told the Wisconsin Catholic Tribune.

Saint Augustine's current policy of optional face masks will likely be modified to make them a requirement for students and faculty members since Gov. Tony Evers has mandated that they be worn, Devoid said to the Tribune. The school will also ensure that social distancing is followed as much as possible within the building. Students will find hand sanitizer in every classroom, and along with faculty they will use it often throughout the day.

“Students with fever and/or colds [are] not permitted inside the school building,” Devoid told the Tribune.

Parents have had a positive attitude about their children’s return to the classroom.

Saint Augustine’s total enrollment during the last school year was 75 students, with the largest class in a single grade being nine students and the smallest class only two students, the school’s website reported.

The school offers classes for K4 through high school grades. Five classrooms are combined: K4 and K5, first and second grades, third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth grades. Some high school level courses are also combined grades. The largest combined classroom has been 18 students.

Saint Augustine’s mission statement declares that the school follows a "traditional Catholic philosophy and Classical liberal arts curriculum," the website said. The school has sought accreditation from Wisconsin Religious and Independent Schools Accreditation and gained pre-accreditation status in 2018.

The grade school curriculum incorporates Bible and Catechism memorization; English grammar; reading comprehension; diagramming of sentences; vocabulary from Greek and Latin roots; the lives of the saints; music; math fundamentals and basic facts of geography, history and science. Common Core is not a part of the school’s curriculum.