The former hybrid schedule of the two cohorts each going two days a week with Wednesday online for everyone outweighs the four day in-person schedule; it needs to come back. 

The 2020-2021 school year has been all but normal; almost everything changed from the traditional school year and it’s been an adjustment. The push to return back to school is understandable, it’s easier to have all students in one place and dealing with technology sucks, but students left for quarantine left and right; teachers still had to keep the Teams meetings open so the students at home didn’t get too behind. Pushing for normalcy in an all but normal school year isn’t the way to go, the hybrid schedule is much better for the year. 

The hybrid schedule lasted longer than the return to school in-person schedule. Hybrid lasted from Jan. 15 to Mar. 12 compared to the four day in-person schedule which lasted from Mar. 15 to Mar. 22 when there were 40 positive cases and over 400 quarantined. The hybrid schedule was much more effective. 

A major concern over the return to school happened to be safety. The school did a great job at keeping students distanced during hybrid learning when roughly half the school was in-person and half online, as shown by the minimal cases of outbreaks before the return of both cohorts. When all students came back, it became too difficult to keep students distanced far enough away from each other during lunch when students were unmasked. Hybrid learning is more effective at slowing the spread of Covid than in-person learning, according to Belleville news writer Megan Valley on a study of schools in Illinois. 

The return to school was meant to last a month of going four days in-person with Wednesdays online and after a month it was meant to go to all five days in person with the alternative A and B weeks.  Hybrid offered a sense of consistency for students making it easier; they knew which days they would be in each class. 

Some students depend on the free meals provided by the schools during in-person learning. While it may be true, the district has taken great measures to ensure all students in need of meals are well taken care of. Resources are still available to those students or any students in need even at home. 

The benefits of the hybrid schedule outweigh the few benefits of the in-person schedule. The safety of students and staff needs to remain the top priority instead of a desire to return to a more normal-feeling year. 

To return to the hybrid schedule once cases are lower and the school allows it, students can speak up and message the school board.