March 1 has come and gone.

That was the day the governor was targeting for Ohio schools to get back to in-person learning — at least in some form.

We are pleased to see the return-to-school plan outlined by Youngstown City Schools leaders, and even more pleased to see it adjusted again for an even earlier return date.

Youngstown City School District students now will have the option to return to in-person instruction beginning the week of March 15. That’s one week earlier than previously announced.

Earlier, district officials said the phased reopening to in-person education would launch March 23.

Under the revised plan, announced Friday, pre-kindergarten students through fifth-graders will return Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning March 16.

Also March 16, all students at Rayen Early College Middle School, regardless of grade level, will return to in-person instruction Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Sixth- through 12th-graders will return Mondays and Fridays, beginning March 15.

Wednesdays will be reserved for educator office hours, professional development and deep building cleaning.

Youngstown schools Chief Executive Officer Justin Jennings said he changed the district’s plans after talking to some school leaders and superintendents in other districts across the state about what they’ve been able to do.

“I believe that if we follow all of the mask and social-distancing requirements, we’ll be able to open all of our school buildings and still keep scholars and staff safe,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the virus situation and make adjustments, if required.”

Great!

The plan is a good first step to transitioning students who have not experienced in-person learning since the governor ordered school buildings closed due to the onset of COVID-19 about one year ago.

Still, we remain concerned at the slow reaction and also comments from some elected board of education members who seem to be hesitant to return children to their buildings.

For instance, Youngstown Board of Education member Brenda Kimble told our education reporter Raymond Smith recently that with the late return to buildings and the school year scheduled to end on May 25, it might not make sense to return to the school buildings at all for the two months.

We say, however, there is no time like the present.

“A lot of our parents said they are not going to send their children back to the buildings,” she added.

Indeed, many parents may choose to keep their children in remote learning for now, and that should be their decision as it has been at so many other local schools. But we believe strongly that the schools should be open in order to give these families that important option.

As we have stated so many times before in this space, we remain fearful about the effects this past year of online learning has had on Youngstown City Schools students and all students.

Teachers may be able to see the effects this year has had on both academics and socio-economic issues, and they may be able to communicate it anecdotally. Still, the fact remains that there will be no clear measuring tool anytime soon.

The lack of in-depth school report cards and state testing over the past year have all but eliminated benchmarks that could have analyzed exactly how our students and educators have coped with a year of limited access and online learning in many school districts.

That’s a problem that can only be overcome by getting back to school right away.

There is no better time than now to do that.