Olivia West, Editor-in-Chief
@oliviawcourant
Walking down the halls of the high school this fall is different than any year before. Instead of students hanging out around every corner, people walk quickly to their classrooms, mandatory masks on, staying on one side of the hallway in accordance with the marked paths. Going off campus during frees is not only allowed, but encouraged this year; rarely will you find students in their assigned study halls for their period, and the library and cafeteria are off-limits.
The biggest changes, however, are the half-empty classes and faces on Zoom splayed across the SmartBoards and laptops, as the cohort division has greatly impacted the school.
Penny Rashin, a Board of Education member and member of the Reopening Committee, said that the process of developing the reopening plan was thoughtful, informed, and full of trial and error. “Overall, we developed a trifold plan as directed by the state that, depending on the level of COVID in our community, allows for three scenarios: all students in school, all students at home learning virtually, and a hybrid with half students in school and half working remotely,” she said.
“In order to support this trifold plan and to promote student and teacher safety, many physical, technology and schedule changes have been made for K-12,” Mrs. Rashin said. “Physical changes include, among many others, adjusting the HVAC systems to bring in more fresh air, taking all the rugs and soft furniture out of classrooms so that they can be spray disinfected every evening, adding plexi-glass barriers in classrooms and lunchrooms to allow appropriate social distancing, and adding decals on the floors to mark how far apart students should be.”
“The high school went to a block schedule as this requires less classroom changes and works well with the XY cohort hybrid school plan and the full remote plan,” she said. “At the middle and elementary schools, a push-in model was developed with the teachers coming to the students’ classrooms, rather than the reverse. The cohort at the elementary schools is a student’s classroom and the cohort at Saxe is the student’s team.”
Robert Stevenson is the Social Studies Department Chair and has had experience with teaching several versions of block scheduling for over two decades now. He said that while it opens up lots of methods possibilities, it does make content coverage slightly harder. In response to the other changes, Mr. Stevenson said that it has been a difficult switch. “Lots of the spontaneity in my teaching is gone because I have to consider every piece in the name of both digital and in-person learning,” he said.
“The combination of masks and digital learning has made it so difficult to read students’ understanding, their emotions, readiness for learning, and engagement,” Mr. Stevenson said. “Those pieces are so vital to effective education and so complex to respond and adjust to under normal circumstances, nevermind behind a mask and a screen.”
In response to all of these changes and challenges, Mr. Stevenson said that the Social Studies department has spent lots of time together trying to understand how to put technology to its best use in teaching. “We have daily formal and informal discussions about what’s working and not working and how we can improve,” he said. “Outside of all of us using Schoology and Zoom, teachers are adopting what will work best for their own classes, their students, their courses, their curriculum.”
“Personally, I think pairing students in and out of class can work well when matched with the right sort of discussion or project-based work,” Mr. Stevenson said. “Alternating back and forth during discussions from in-person to home seems effective.”
If students are struggling with the hybrid model of schooling, Mr. Stevenson recommended that you get up and move around before, after, and during class. “If you can take a computer on the move, do it! I switched it up from my deck to my yard to an office to a bedroom every period in the spring, sometimes even during classes and meetings,” he said. “I hope if we have to continue hybrid into October we can find ways to give students more asynchronous opportunities so they can get off the screen and engage more with the world around them on their own terms rather than ours.”
Janet Reed, the Nurse Supervisor at the high school and COVID-19 liaison for the district, said that she has had to adjust nursing procedures and work very hard to get all the facts about the virus and be sure they are following the guidance from the Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Department of Education. “We know that the mitigation strategies really work to prevent the spread of the virus, so we can’t let our guard down,” she said. “This could be a long game. We have to remember that we are all in this together.”
In addition, Mrs. Reed recognized the importance of taking care of our mental and physical health during these circumstances. “We all need to be kind to ourselves and take care of our health.
Get enough sleep, eat well, exercise and practice mindfulness. Be in the present moment rather than focusing on the past or future,” she said. “Reach out for help from your parents, your counselor and the caring adults in your life, and be sure to wash your hands, wear a mask, maintain social distance, and stay home if sick!”
With no end date in sight, this pandemic and the changes it has brought to the high school may seem insurmountable at times. It’s important to view your mental health as a priority during this time, and reach out to adults that you trust if you find yourself struggling in any way. “I know how hard it is but try to remember that we didn’t cause this pandemic. We didn’t choose this pandemic,” Mrs. Reed said. “But we are doing the best we can to get through it. There is power in that.”
