Back to School in January?

Parents of students at Kearny High School have recently been asked to fill out a survey regarding going back to school in person in January. We obviously have not been able to go to school in person for close to a year at this point. It seems like school districts are eager to send kids back to in-person learning. Online school can be difficult and they want to make sure the students are understanding and keeping up with all of the material they are being taught and of course there can be issues with WiFi or the Chromebook.

We asked a little over one hundred people if they chose to go back to in-person learning in January, or if they chose to continue virtual schooling. The results were surprisingly close. 54.2% of people said that they wouldn’t go back to in-person school in January but would like to stay virtual. 45.8% of people said that they would like to go back to in-person school in January. It is intriguing that the people are nearly split on whether they want to go back or not. It feels like everyone wants to see their friends, make new friends and get a more thorough education, but of course, they run the risk of catching Covid-19 and spreading it more.

Students have their reasons why they would go back to in-person school or stay in virtual school. Students that chose to go to in-person school want to go back because they want to see their friends, they can’t focus at home, or their parents are making them go. The students that chose to stay in virtual school are staying because their parents are not allowing them to, for mental health reasons, or concern of catching and/or spreading the virus. 

Finally, we asked students when they think it is an appropriate time to go back to in-person school. 34.6% said the appropriate time to go back is when the pandemic ends. Another 34.6% of people said we should go back in a couple months, 26% of people said we should wait until the next school year, and 5% of people said we should never go back to school.

There is no telling when we will be going back to in-person school. From what I have gathered from these results, it is clear that students have differing opinions on when and why we should go back. In my opinion, we should not go back until Covid-19 ends. I worry that if I contract it I will spread it to my family, in which there are many people with weakened immune systems that cannot fight off the virus. School may be opening in just a few months, or we may have to wait until there is a guaranteed way to go to a public place without contracting Covid. It is a tough call for sure.