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Monday was the first day of school for some students in Mississippi.The Madison County School District had a soft opening, with half of the students returning to class Monday and the other half on Tuesday. The district has instituted a masks optional policy, which is not sitting well with some parents."Masks are optional for students and teachers when they can maintain three feet of distance. If they’re closer than 3 feet, those masks are coming on," said Madison County Schools communication director Gene Wright.The mother of a fifth-grader at Madison Station Elementary School was so worried, she refused to send her daughter to school for the first day."I hate to even be put in this position," said the mother, who did not want to be identified. "We just did not feel safe enough sending her to school, being exposed to lots of children that may or may not have a mask on."At a recent back-to-school night, she was surprised to see how desks in her child’s classroom were arranged."Her desks in the classroom were grouped together in groups of four – literally touching each other," she said. "So, my child is sitting there with a mask on with three other children who don’t have a mask. Who’s looking out for her?"Wright said the district has three different COVID-19 protocols based on the percentage of each school’s population that test positive for the virus over a 14-day period."We’ll have administrators reporting in from every campus (with) those case counts so that we can respond quickly and effectively," Wright said.Administrators said the policy is designed to keep kids as safe as possible while giving them a sense of normalcy."Best practices educating will tell you having students in class on campus to learn really is the best for students, in terms of learning, and for teachers in terms of teaching," Wright said.The mother said unless the district changes its policy on masks, she won’t feel comfortable sending her daughter back to school.