When are we Going Back?

With spring right around the corner and the school year more than halfway over with, there is a question looming over every student and staff's head. When are we going back?

“We need to try and get the children back to school and that's the goal of President Biden in the next 100 days,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci on President Biden’s timeframe on reopening schools. This would place the reopening 100 days from the January inauguration which would be sometime in May. While Dr. Fauci predicts there to be a sense of normalcy by the fall, he warns that, “The coronavirus pandemic could get worse with the large number of current cases.”

Recently I posted a poll on Instagram asking if we should go back this school year. It contained a moderate sample size of GHS students as well as others. Counting just active GHS students, the results are: 52.3% Yes and 47.7% No with 44 votes total. The results being so close are interesting as it shows how conflicted the student body is on this issue.

“Personally, I think that we should stay online for the rest of this school year as if we were to go back it would be towards the end of the school year,” said Tyler Podolski, a junior at GHS. “With such a big change this late it would add extra stress... making a lot of students more focused on adjusting to the new "lifestyle" of being part/fulltime in school.” Some students may have finally got accustomed to remote learning, and with a year of one destabilizing event after another, another monumental move could be the tipping point. “I would have liked to go back in person but the timing now would hurt students more than it helps,” Podolski finished.

“Definitely think we should, online school is less than ideal, and going back in person will definitely let teachers better prepare us for AP exams and finals,” said Max Warner, a student at GHS. Max expresses how online school has been worse than physical school for him. With isolation, internet issues and having to look at a screen for WELL over the 2 hour recommendation (Mayo Clinic), these are some of the bigger issues for most students. “Plus it will give us back the face-to-face social interaction with others that we’ve been deprived of,” Max added.

“It sends a message: we are ok to act like normal again even when the virus is continuing to kill.” Said Kristin Larouche, a parent of a GHS student. Ms. Larouche responds in regard to student and faculty safety as well as the idea that GHS is an influential place whose actions would affect way more than just the school. If the school was opened, Ms. Larouche feels that it would send the message that everything is fine when clearly everything is not.

“It’s such a huge risk for everyone, definitely no,” said Jordyn Tully, another junior at GHS. “It’s difficult to imagine that students and teachers would act responsibly if we were all together.” Having kids normally bouncing off of the walls that would then be expected to sit still 6 feet apart? That seems more idealistic than realistic. Jordyn added that, “While students are less likely to get sick from the virus, they could spread it to other people who would get seriously ill. I want to go back to school as much as everyone else does, but it’s not worth the risk when there are lives on the line.”

What can be discerned from all of these varying opinions and chaos is that this is a very complex situation where, no matter what, some people will be upset with the outcome. The best we can do as students is continue the conversation and hope we exit this school year and pandemic all the stronger because of it.