Local public schools are ready to open in one of the strangest beginnings ever of a new school year.

Each school division has been on its own as it tries to figure out how to proceed safely while a pandemic continues to creep across the land.

In Mathews County, students in kindergarten through eighth grade will have a bit of classroom time, starting next week, providing an opportunity for teachers and their pupils to get acquainted. Then work reverts to online, perhaps with some twists but similar to final months of the last term. Mathews High School students will work entirely online for the first nine-week marking period.

In Gloucester, the first quarter of the new school year will be online only, with changes not determined until the course of the pandemic becomes clear.

The end of summer is a time that everyone knows means “back to school.” It is a normal part of our lives, and happily anticipated.

This year we are sure that every teacher and we venture to guess alm...