Administration plans for next semester

Natalie Sanko, Takeover Trending Editor

The second semester is just around the corner and many are left wondering what the new schedule for the spring semester will look like.

As of right now, the administration knows the district will be going to a full day schedule starting Jan. 4.The schedule will consist of four block days and a full-schedule day on Wednesdays. During the first weeks of the decision, 40-50 students switched to remote learning and that number can be expected to rise when the five-day schedule is 100% confirmed. 

It’s been the district’s goal to get students back to five days a week since October. One reason being students’ overall well-being.
“The understanding that our students academically, socially [and] emotionally, are going to benefit when we go back to full time has been shared, not just by our educational professionals, but also by the Medical Advisory Committee,” building principal Michael Dorst said. “Some of the best parts of [students’] day is spent at school and we want to increase that time.”

Due to the health concerns of going back to five days a week, a block schedule was chosen so that the district could easily switch to remote or hybrid if COVID-19 cases get too high.

“The schedule that we’re going to do next semester will allow us to transition if we need to from hybrid to distance to full five days a week,” Dorst said. “If our community health requires us to, then we can switch and still do a block schedule on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; and then have our office check-ins like we’re doing now.”

Concerns about student health and safety have also come up since the announcement. Many are worried the school won’t be able to properly social distance with so many people in the building.

Some of the ways the school plans to distance students include more seating in the cafeteria, three lunch periods, smaller classes and plexiglass barriers to separate desks. Classes will be shrunk down to around 20 students and custodians will continue disinfecting surfaces between classes in both the West and East Campus.

Upcoming holidays may also affect the switch to onsite. With many students traveling and having family over, it’s very likely that contracting COVID-19 will increase, resulting is a faster spread of the virus.

“Right now it’s unclear,” Dorst said. “Different parts of the nation are experiencing higher rates and right now, in our community, we haven’t seen that. We definitely will be monitoring, not just on Jan. 4, but also that following week, we’ll be monitoring just like we’re doing now.”