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I’ve been to most of the board meetings since January. I’ve listened to arguments until midnight, with members of the board debating learning models, vaccination plans, and such topics in hopes of doing their best for our community. In every meeting, at some point, someone says it:
“These kids are so resilient. These kids are fighting so hard, and we’re so proud.”
It’s in the closings of emails, it’s from teachers, it’s from parents, it’s from politicians. Everyone loves our drive, our commitment, our strength. They acknowledge the uncertainty we face, the hours in front of screens, the unique anxieties that we deal with every day. They talk about mental health, about all that we’ve missed: sports seasons, musicals, life markers that help us chart our way in the world.
And yet, when we ask for something in return, when we ask for what we need to continue that strength, the answer is a resounding no.
Students spoke at length during the April 6th board meeting about their discomfort with returning to an all-or-nothing, 5-days-a-week model. Not only would we lose valuable time for managing schoolwork, jobs, and extracurricular activities, on top of managing mental, physical, and emotional health, but we would also be returning to an environment that violates CDC guidelines.
We expressed apprehension at putting most of the school’s population back in the building, when many of their classmates, teams, and even teachers and coaches, are incredibly lax on masking and cleaning. This, in a community that has just returned from spring break travels. This, in a state with some of the highest infection numbers in the nation.
The decision jeopardizes activities students have looked forward to all year. Spring sports have many athletes for whom this is their final season. Students in the musical have been working for months to put on a show that the entire community can be proud of. Seniors have been planning prom and graduation, among other events- capping off their high school careers, looking to the future. This is our last shot before we move on.
We need this, and the board failed us. Is this the reward we get for our resilience? For our strength, our commitment to education and community? We’re tired of platitudes.
At Monday’s board meeting, one of my classmates said “Why fix something that isn’t broken.” Wednesday worked and should not have been taken away.
I miss the Wednesdays as well, it rewarded kids who were all caught up, giving them a day off. But also gave kids who were struggling time to catch up.
This is an extremely well-written editorial and includes the voice of students that the community does not often get to hear. I think that this was very important to get out there and express our disappointment.
I believe that wensdays should not have been taken away because kid get so much extra work done and they have time for extracellular activties
I really like that you brought this quote into the article, “students spoke at length during the April 6th board meeting about their discomfort with returning to an all-or-nothing, 5-days-a-week model. Not only would we lose valuable time for managing schoolwork, jobs, and extracurricular activities, on top of managing mental, physical, and emotional health”.
While reading through your article, i noticed myself agreeing with your opinion on Wednesdays. Having a day to catch up and work at my own pace has been extremely beneficial. I am sure that this day is not only useful to students, but also for teachers who have a large number of things to plan and to grade. Thank you for putting this out there, hopefully, the students will be heard.
I’m pretty sure almost everyone is nervous and unhappy about the 5-day return to schooling. The school should have at least given us an option to stay hybrid instead of all or nothing. However, taking away our Wednesdays makes it complicated for students who would wish to do hybrid (but they probably should have let us keep Wednesdays open anyways).
Throughout the school year, it has been a struggle to get a steady schedule down for learning, both in-person and online. Throughout all of this though I think that Wednesdays have definitely been one of the key pieces that have made this school year easier. Because of the school board taking away Wednesdays I feel more stressed than ever because Wednesday was a time when I was able to make up work, catch up on sleep, and just get a break. I definitely feel that the school board should have kept our Wednesday.
I’m definitely more towards having Wednesday off. I feel like having that one day off helps us students refresh and self isolate from everyone else. FOr me personally, having that day off helps me better prepare for Thursday and Friday.
I completely agree with your opinion on asynchronistic Wednesdays, as they provided a full day to catch up on work and allowed for students that were caught up to be rewarded with a free day. This also allowed for teachers to have plenty of time to catch up on grades and create new assignments.
I feel like the Wednesdays needed to stay to help with managing time and with people’s mental health. I also agree with you that we moved way to quick with the 5 days which caused some concern with kids.