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The COVID-19 pandemic has upset everyone’s lives in one way or another. We feel safe in stating it’s not merely an opinion, but a fact. That said, what comes to mind is how to restore some stability when it comes to teaching students.

How can anyone forget that in the spring, school divisions across Virginia, across the country and even around the world, had to come up with emergency plans to continue the learning. One way or another, though, it happened.

Franklin and Southampton public schools, for example, have chosen to resume education virtually for the upcoming nine weeks of the school calendar. We support this as the best choice for the foreseeable future because, for the sake of all persons involved, it’s potentially the safest where the novel coronavirus is concerned. As school leaders have had to emphasize over and over again, everyone’s safety is the priority.

Both school divisions have made it a point to stress to the public that their respective school boards will re-evaluate the situation this fall to determine if any kind of in-person classes may take place. It would be most encouraging — wonderful, even — if the health department were to report later the number of positive COVID cases has dropped dramatically enough to justify that model. But we can only be as cautiously optimistic as board members.

Or, as parents are wont to say to their children, “We’ll see.”