The inevitable took less than a day. And uncertainty may become the new normal.
But that's what Hamilton County Schools - like all school districts across the country - are facing in welcoming students back to classes in the middle of a global pandemic.
On the evening classes began for the 2020-2021 school year Wednesday, it was announced two schools - Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences and Loftis Middle School - would be closed Thursday and Friday for cleaning after someone at each building tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in the past week.
Parents who thought schools never should have opened are saying, "I told you so." Parents who were all in with face-to-face classes are no doubt saying such hiccups are to be expected.
Both sides have merit.
Virtual instruction last spring, some education experts have acknowledged, had mixed success. Many students did not have the proper equipment, internet access or supervision to benefit from online learning at home. Others thrived in it, with an on-task mom, dad or guardian at home providing the extra support needed for a more independent style of learning.
On the other hand, in-class learning provides a more socially rich environment where instruction comes from a trained teacher who knows more about a subject area and how to teach it than anyone at home. A school setting also may ensure a student is able to get the proper individualized help he or she needs and can provide broader, more diverse interactions with other students.
What is certain is that administrators, teachers and staff members are having to be smarter, savvier, more nimble and work harder than they ever have to ensure that students both in class and at home receive the best instruction possible.
No matter what Hamilton County Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson decided about opening schools in person, online or with a mix of both, it would never be right in the eyes of parents of each of the more than 45,000 students.
Nevertheless, he and his team had to decide on a strategy while sorting through a data blizzard that came their way every day from the local health department, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from the World Health Organization, and from so-called online experts who offered conflicting assessments about how serious the virus threat was.
In the middle of deciding on a strategy, there also were bus schedules to wrangle, teachers to hire, buildings to deep clean, one school to be relocated because of a tornado and equipment to make certain - as was never needed before - would be operational every day.
The easiest decision for the county probably would have been to bail on in-person classes and declare that remote learning would occur for the first semester of the school year. That would assure the most teachers, students, staff and administrators stayed healthy.
But for many families, especially where a parent would not be at home or where a grandparent can't spring for a tutor, online classes are not a viable option. This is especially true in minority communities or where parents are new to the community and have few contacts or where parents must work to make ends meet.
So the county has begun classes with a hybrid learning schedule, at least through Aug. 28. Meanwhile, some parents are taking advantage of the options of keeping their students home with virtual learning from teachers or with more independent study.
As with the two schools that closed the day after they opened this week, such instances are likely to occur throughout the fall. But instead of being upset at administrators who "should've seen this coming," who "aren't keeping our children safe," or who "don't know what they are doing," parents more than ever should support the professionals who run and staff public - and private - schools.
Like parents with their children, they are facing something neither they nor any of their colleagues have ever faced before. There is no rule book, no guideline, no hard and fast rule from the state Department of Education. There can't be because all learning environments and all communities are different in the way the virus is affecting them. One size doesn't and won't ever fit all.
So we would exhort parents and community members to be patient - and be a part of supportive conversations - around the inevitable changes that will occur with schools and students this fall. We all long for the day when life returns to normal, but that still is a way off.
Uncertain times demand strong but thoughtful parents. Be sure that you are one.