Governor Tom Wolf has attempted to implement strict rules in the state of Pennsylvania to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. He took away athletics, business hours, and indoor dining recently. Luckily, he wasn’t willing to shut down schools. 

But let’s talk about school; our district is one of the few in York County that has been able to offer five day, face to face learning every day since the beginning of the year. Albeit, of course, there are rules in place to stop the spread of the disease, such as masks, first and second bell, and one-way hallways; we are still lucky to be able to learn in school. 

According to freshman Noa Schneider and Margo Channell, “I really enjoy it, and I feel that it’s a better learning form than online. The restrictions keep everyone safe and able to stay in school.” 

By being in school, it has helped students like Schneider, Channell, and many others who are freshmen to know the teachers, the classrooms, and the environment altogether.

According to the University of Illinois Springfield, “Online school learning can work well for self-disciplined students, but not so well for dependent people.” While most students, nowadays, are plugged into technology at all times, this is a huge distraction. Therefore, unless a student is very disciplined and can focus on his or her work, they will fail and not learn anything in an online school environment. 

In response to students’ varying needs and abilities in learning, our district chose to have three options of learning for each student. Families can either choose to have their students enrolled in virtual, hybrid, or face-to-face learning. 

Also, each student can change their learning technique; this ensures that families and students find the perfect fit for learning during a pandemic.  

Due to cleaning precautions and new learning techniques, this year has been very difficult for our staff and teachers. They have to work twice as hard to teach and clean. 

For janitors, this means they need to spray and wipe down every touchable surface to make sure no one gets sick. Touchable surfaces include, but of course, are not limited to:  bathrooms, hallways, door handles, cafeterias, etc. They even need to make sure that each spray cleaner in every teacher’s room is filled. 

For teachers, this means they need to find ways to keep students from touching or using the same supplies, ways to teach in-school students and virtual students, and ways to clean every desk, chair, and used school item between classes. 

Due to having in-school and virtual students, many activities that teachers have done in the past can’t work; therefore, they need to find new ways to teach equally. 

Though COVID has made the school have to work harder every day, all staff and teachers are still here ready to work, teach, and keep everyone safe. They make each day seem normal, so we don’t have to worry as students. 

Our school altogether hasn’t been appreciated for what they have done to make sure each student has what they need to learn. 

Our school chose to let us have in-school learning, even if it means double the work for them. So, we should be thankful that we are able to learn in ways that other schools can’t, and we should express that thanks by maybe making posters to be put around the school, or even a parade; they could walk by and see all the students celebrating their hard work. Just thanking our school for their hard work will make a great difference in each teacher/staff’s lives.