WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — We are continuing our series following a family who chose to do face-to-face learning and how it’s impacting them.

A lot is changing for the Griffis family right now. 

Soon they’ll be moving into a new home.

And 8-year-old Ethan has a new helper.

“This is my service dog, she is 9 weeks old, almost 10, and her name is chief,” Ethan said. 

But while all these changes were happening, Brianne got a concerning message from her kids’ school.

“So we got an email from the principal letting us know that there was a case in high school … I just read ‘brick and mortar quarantine’ and I was like, ‘Oh no we’re in the middle of all this house stuff and moving, how are we going to quarantine our children?'” Brianne said. 

But the outbreak was contained to Innovation Montessori’s high school.

Brianne says she’s seen them do a good job of keeping the grades separated.

“So I felt comfortable with that decision just because he has no interaction with that grade level,” she said. 

Which is good news for them, considering the health issues they deal with.

“He has asthma, I’m immunocompromised, so there is obviously always hesitation there,” she said. 

But they originally chose to do face-to-face so Ethan could get the services needed to help with his autism.

And Brianne says even just being back for a few weeks has done wonders for him.

After virtual learning caused him to backslide educationally. 

“So he was testing at like first grade, second grade level, and he had fallen back to like a kindergarten, first grade level, and he just took his test and he’s now on third grade level. Just by going back,” she said. 

Brianne says she believes with the school’s safety measures and Ethan’s success, they’ll be able to weather the changes that are sure to come throughout the year.

“I truly think it was the best decision for us on sending him back,” she said.