Students in Ms. Grogan's 10th grade English class work on close reading of a text.
During the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, students were accustomed to having shorter school weeks due to social distancing and cleaning. After being on this alternate schedule for one and a half school years, students are having trouble returning to normalcy.
Many students used the short school week to work on extracurricular activities, but now they are having trouble fitting in these activities with the long school week.
“For me, I work most days after school, almost immediately and don't get home until late,” said Reily Skene, sophomore. “By then I'm tired and ready to go to bed.”
Some students have also had trouble staying on top of school work with this new schedule.
“Last year I was able to take that time to decompress and stay on top of my work,” said Skeine. “It made me a lot less stressed out about school because I had time to work and stay caught up.”
However, some students prefer having school five days a week.
“[I like] Being able to learn more continuously,” said Sebastian Afandador, sophomore. “With four days we could do stuff on the two days but there was a gap in the middle that sometimes made it harder to continue learning what you left off from Tuesday and you have to pick up on Thursday, but with being at school five days a week you just have your normal weekend off allowing learning every day of the school week and no gaps.”
There are benefits and drawbacks for both schedules, and one size does not fit all.
“Having a school week with four days or less allowed me to rejuvenate, and finish any work I didn't finish in class on the Wednesdays I had breaks,” said Sawyer Kennedy, freshman. “However, one concern I had about going four days a week is the communication between students and teachers. I feel like it is easier to communicate with a teacher about an assignment if it is in person, rather than email or Google Meet.”
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