In with the Students, Out with Zoom
For the 2021-2022 school year virtual numbers are lower than this year
This year students had an opportunity to choose between in-person and virtual. The same question was asked for next year with a bunch of virtual students deciding to come back in-person. The counselors have been hard at work trying to help the students and their families figure out what is best for them. Decisions are ever changing due to vaccines.
“At this time our information on virtual students and the schedule for those students is continuously changing. As people start to get vaccines and COVID case numbers change, we are seeing people reevaluating their decisions about next year,” Counselor Sarah Scaturro said.
Scheduling has been completed for the students’ classes next year. People who haven’t figured out what decision they will make, their schedules are still being worked on.
“Due to these things we are unsure of the exact number of students that will be participating in virtual education and what those schedules will look like,” Counselor Julie Basler said. “The master schedule has already been completed for next year, but because we don’t have exact numbers of virtual students, we will adjust for their scheduling needs when decisions are finalized.”
Certain classes may be unable to accommodate students who are virtual next year.
“It is a possibility that students that do select to be a virtual student may have courses that they are unable to take because of their selection. We will continue to work hard to meet the needs of all students in-person and virtual,” Basler said.
Teachers will be able to go back to teaching the way they taught before COVID started if the majority of students are in-person.
“I think next year will have a lot more learning. With the goal that a younger age bracket will be eligible to receive the vaccine, hopefully we’ll be able to see more students back in desks and working to learn,” English teacher Kayla Gilmore said. “It’s been hard to connect to students over Zoom. I’ve seen a huge difference in students who had been virtual and returned to school. It’s like they’re completely different people. I think next year will give us the opportunity to connect more, and that’s something I feel we’ve lost this year.”
Gilmore is hopeful for teaching to go back to the way it used to be.
“This pandemic has been terrible for learning. I’m not so worried about my teaching; I’m more worried about how well my students can learn,” she said. “Without a doubt, the classes that have been the most exciting and interactive have been the classes with a higher ratio of in-person students. I had a class with 75 percent of my students online, and I felt like I was talking to myself most days. It’s harder to get students more engaged in a discussion when we’re on Zoom all day.”
