How other schools are handling Covid-19

Olivia Harrison
Editor-in-chief

2020 has not been easy for many people around the world. From the wildfires and bush fires across the West Coast and Australia to the stock market crash, and even the upcoming election, there have been lots of things that have made headlines in the news throughout the year. However, one thing has definitely stood out: The Covid-19 Pandemic. First identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, as a respiratory disease in the SARS family, it wasn’t made out to be a huge concern for the world, and especially the United States. Eventually, through means of travel, Covid-19 spread its way around the world becoming a Global Pandemic.
  The United States has been one of the hardest hit countries with over seven million cases and over 200,000 deaths.  Business all around the world and the US ceased operations and schools closed their doors for the remainder of the school year. To avoid and stop the spread of Covid-19, the CDC, WHO, and various world leaders recommended mandatory protocol such as social distancing, quarantining, staying six feet away from others, staying home if you felt ill, and wearing a mask, as Covid is spread primarily through air droplets.
  Now, with all these precautions and new protocols, life seems like it won’t be back to normal for a while, especially our school system. This fall, there are many concerns about sending students back to school. Questions abound:  Will desks be socially distanced and six ft apart? How will they be able to tell if someone has contracted the virus? What if we don’t have the resources to learn at home? and Should we be doing online instruction, a hybrid model, or totally in person classes? These are just a few of the concerns parents and educators have expressed in the recent months. Throughout the country, governors, school districts and communities have been trying to tackle these concerns. Some schools have opened full time, others are doing hybrid, and others have opened totally online for a small portion of the year or even a full year.  
  Our school, New Hope-Solebury has decided to do online learning for the first marking period before hopefully being able to resume in person classes for the remainder of the year. However, I was interested to know what other schools in various states were doing when it came to reopening. I was also interested in what fellow students thought about the reopening of schools, and how they’ve been handling online learning. I spoke to two of my friends who are juniors in high school,  Jonas Stinziano of Fayetteville/Manlius, New York, and Ethan Ingham of San Tan Valley, Arizona. At the beginning of the pandemic, upstate New York was a Covid-19 hot spot. As of July 17, Arizona was considered a hot spot for the virus, and has an increasing number of cases.
  From what I gathered, it sometimes depends on the state, or the individual district to decide on how to open the schools. However, students still have a choice whether they want to do virtual learning for the whole year, or return to in person education, whether it be full time or hybrid. Jonas said, “We’re [Fayatteville/Manlius High] doing the hybrid model so there’s two cohorts (groups). Cohort A goes Monday and Tuesday. Cohort B goes on Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is a cleaning day. There is a cohort C but they are all online.”  
 In Arizona, the governor mandated at least 180 days of education whether it be online or in person. However, there are a lot of concerns about going back, especially full time.
  Ethan states, “Kind of, but not so much about me getting Covid because I have the common sense to distance myself, but I'm concerned about the fact that like other people are probably going to get it.”  
  Ethan started his junior year off online and is due to go back to school full time while Jonas  has been doing the hybrid model.  I asked them how online learning has been going, especially with the pressures of eleventh grade and from what they said, it’s not ideal. Ethan said,  “It's hard for me to stay focused when it's online work...I’m not doing that well”.
  Jonas said, “When we get work online it’s definitely harder to manage, especially with AP classes. In person it is much easier to manage.”
  With these student concerns in mind, and the ability to manage online classwork, educators have been finding it complex to make decisions on how to completely give students a proper education. For now, until Covid-19 ends, or we get a vaccine (currently in phase 3 of development), everyone will have to learn to adapt to the new norms of education.