Teachers and students alike have had confusion over the new hybrid schedule. It has been a changing system with continuous challenges.

Before the beginning of the hybrid schedule, many students wanted to stay remote because they find it safer to not leave their homes. However, some students did want to return to in-person learning as they believed it would be a better learning environment. There was also a lot of confusion regarding the hybrid schedule as many students weren’t aware of cohorts and how they worked. The cohort system caused teachers to be teaching a class through zoom as well as a class in-person. When I asked students and teachers how this would be possible, no one had a concrete response. At this point, each teacher was doing things very differently than another. A lot of this confusion started to clear up when the hybrid schedule finally began.

During the hybrid schedule, everything began to make more sense as we learned about the safety precautions. Being back at school felt almost apocalyptic. It was a very different environment than that of 9 months ago. For starters, there were much fewer people at school and everyone was wearing masks sitting in desks around 6 feet apart. The cafeteria now consisted of multiple one-person desks sitting a few feet apart. The safety guidelines were easy to understand and follow; however, even with all the guidelines in place, some people did feel unsafe at times, especially in between classes and by the cafeteria which seemed to be somewhat crowded at times. No one truly felt fully safe considering the daily rising COVID cases and with it, the risk of contracting it.

A few weeks after the hybrid schedule had started, Governor Tom Wolf announced new COVID guidelines due to the rising cases leading to our school district to decide to pause the hybrid schedule and keep students fully remote until December 14. The chance to stay home right before and after Thanksgiving break gave both teachers and students another chance to adjust to the hybrid schedule. Comparing the extended remote learning time with the brief experience in hybrid helped students decide which environment felt more comfortable and safe. However, schools did open again on December 14.

So far, not many people have gone back in-person. With discussions of the distribution of the COVID vaccine(s) and the end of the pandemic seeming closer than ever, many people chose to stay remote to slow the rise of cases with the hope of a vaccine being accessible to everyone soon. Not many people feel safe going in-person anymore, even with the guidelines in place- the daily rising cases are enough to scare anyone. Yet, only two days after the beginning of the hybrid schedule, another disruption hit the hybrid system.

With roads covered and power outages from the snowstorm last Wednesday, the district decided to go back to the remote schedule for the rest of the week. Now that snow days are no longer a reality, as we no longer need to be at school to learn, remote learning has certainly caused unfortunate effects on those days off we once longed for.

There are likely to be many more changes to come with the hybrid schedule in the future so be sure to keep up with them to not miss any important information. Until life returns back to a sense of normalcy, it’s our job to stay safe by either staying remote for classes or going in-person for the hybrid schedule and following safety guidelines. With all the difficulties we have faced this year, we have been able to form a strong community to fight against all the challenges faced with virtual learning. The optimism and strength we have been able to display this year are admirable!