The year 2020 is a year that has been filled with many ups and downs. Everything seemed normal until mid March when our lives were flipped completely. Everything was put on pause at the end of the 2019-2020 school year when all classes were moved online. After last school year many wondered if we’d even go back at all for the 2020-2021 school year. Fortunately, we are returning to school in person this year, but it comes with many changes made to the day to day routine.

First off, the entire student body has been split in half, with half of the students attending school on Monday and Wednesday, and the other half attending school on Tuesday and Thursday. On the days when students aren’t attending school in person they’re busy working on virtual assignments. This is something that was done to ensure that students could safely attend school while also practicing social distancing. 

Junior Blaine Barr voiced his opinion on going to school two days a week. Barr said, “I don’t like it, I love it.”

Getting the four consecutive days off in between the cohort days for every weekend is a popular draw with this schedule.

Attending school two days a week definitely has its pros and cons.  Students can get their work done on their own time; however, they do miss out on seeing some of their peers that they only see at school.

As for the actual school day, there are many guidelines that have been put into place to ensure the students’ safety. First off, when students arrive at school and enter the building, they must first pass through the automated temperature readers placed in front of every entrance into the school. The temperature readers ensure that anyone entering the building does not show any symptoms of Coronavirus.

Fellow student junior Nicholas Basile voiced his opinion on the thermometers at the entrances of the building. Basile offered, “They’re actually great, I love em, they say ‘thank you’ and everything”. These thermometers that read temperatures in a matter of seconds and kindly say thank you afterwards are vital in keeping the student body safe.

Another new feature that was introduced this school year is the hand sanitizer dispensers outside of every classroom in the building. This gives the students the opportunity to keep their hands clean and refrain from the spread of germs from classroom to classroom. The process of cleaning by the staff has also helped tremendously on top of this. The teachers are sanitizing the desks and tables in between classes to decrease the chance of spreading germs, and our school is also being regularly cleaned and sanitized after hours by custodial staff. This addition will help decrease the chances of the virus spreading considering the students will be using them to kill germs in between classes.

Lastly, but certainly still important, are the enforcement of social distancing throughout the school. By this I mean the one way hallways, desks staying 6 ft apart, limited attendance, etc.

To start off with the hallways., as you are probably aware, the school has been converted to a one way hallway system where traffic in between classes must all flow one way. This causes less clumps within the halls and a lower chance for students to be interactive with others.

On top of this system, our staff has done a great job enforcing and encouraging the students to maintain their distance while walking through the halls in between classes.

Next, the desks. In each classroom you will probably see either a small number of desks, or certain desks blocked off. This is another way to encourage students to maintain distance. The chairs of each student are 6 feet apart to abide by the social distancing rules. Also, each class has been reduced in size as noted above to a certain amount of students to make it easier to follow these policies. 

As we fight through this tough time we should just look at the bright side. That is that we are able to be in school at all. Even though it’s only 2 days a week, it makes a difference and helps students a lot. Our staff has done a great job fighting through this time as well as enforcing all of these rules, additions, and stipulations. Our custodians have also done a fantastic job keeping the school sanitized and decreasing the chances for the spread of germs.