Online school has become the new normal for almost every student across the world. Due to new lessened COVID-19 restrictions via the Wyandotte county health department, students will be allowed to return to school part-time. For many students, this can seem intimidating or even unsafe but I believe if done in the right way this could be a turning point for our county, school, and students. 

As we are starting to get back into the groove of things after coming back from winter break it’s obvious that students are quickly falling back into their old habits. It’s only been a couple of days and I already hear my friends talking about their unhealthy sleeping habits and unbeneficial zoom meetings. A change in the schedule has been well overdue.

On Jan. 8, there were changes made to the Wyandotte County Health Departments’ executive order that limited the learning opportunities. The changes made include allowing a 50% capacity in the building, as well as being able to move to four different classes. Students will still have the option to be hybrid or remote.

Starting the week of Jan. 25, the schedule will look drastically different and unsurprisingly confusing. The biggest change is that all students will have classes all day Monday-Thursday, as opposed to the current schedule that features two full days and three half days, one of which is just for cohorts and social-emotional learning. With the new schedule, all students who choose hybrid will be attending in-person classes for four half-days every week. The students who choose the hybrid path with last names A-L will attend school in-person Monday through Thursday from 7:30 to 10:30 and will zoom for their last two classes. The students with last names M-Z will attend in-person classes Monday through Thursday from 11:45 to 2:45 and will zoom for their first two classes. For the students who choose remote, they will simply join zoom for all scheduled classes for that particular day Monday through Friday. All students, remote and hybrid, will have a cohort check-in on Friday mornings with last names A-L meeting from 7:30 to 8:30, and students with last names M-Z meeting from 8:45 to 9:45. On Friday’s there will also be the option to schedule a help session via Zoom from 10 to 11:30.

That is not where the confusion ends. Mondays and Wednesdays will be purple days with the typical schedule of P1-P4 on Mondays, but on Wednesdays, the schedule could be considered “backward” as it starts with P4 and ends with P1. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be white days going from W1-W4 on Tuesdays, and on Thursdays, it is once again opposite and starts with the W4 session and ends with the W1 class.

I know I am not the only one stressed out by this new schedule but only time will tell and hopefully, things will only progress and we can start getting our “normal” schedule back. At this point, it’s shocking that there was a point in time where we went to school five days a week and had 30+ students in the classroom, without a mask. Speaking of masks, they will still need to be worn at all times in the school building and social distancing will continue to be enforced in the hallways, as well as in the classrooms. 

From a more positive viewpoint, the students who choose the hybrid learning path will be getting more social interaction and less screen time. This will most likely prove to be beneficial to the learning environment as well as the students will focus more on their grades again.

As of now, I think the best thing is just to wait and have hope that the schedule isn’t as overwhelming as it seems right now. Everyone is doing their best and that is all that can be done right now with so many things being uncertain. Whether we like it or not, we are living through an unimaginable time in history, so let’s try to make the best of it where we can.