“Achoo!” “Eugh!” “Hack!”

The District 202 symphony orchestra and its first sonata in the middle of cold and flu season begins. COVID-19 is running rampant as many people dismiss their symptoms. Cases are on the rise within the 202 school district, and with students and staff needing to quarantine there are many missing chairs. Many students are unable to learn when substitute teachers are present. When teachers are forced to remain home, the rhythm of class is lost and causes integral parts of the lesson to be lost with days of no instruction. 

With many students relying on buses for transportation, there is a shortage of drivers causing many students to no longer have stable and on-time transport to school. With so many staff shortages it seems counterintuitive to remain in-building as cases continue to spread. At a minimum, I believe the district should switch to remote learning for the remainder of the quarter to allow for cases to dwindle.

 Other people’s opinions about this subject are that we should remain in person no matter what happens. Issues with going remote are that there are students who do not learn as well online and many teachers find it difficult to comment on which option is better. However, there are academic benefits to going remote temporarily as compared to having make-up work. 

Other school districts in Illinois such as 219 and 33, have shut down to allow students a time period to quarantine and still continue school at home instead of returning to a  steady stream of rushed makeup work. Going to remote learning would allow students time to continue school even while contact traced and would let teachers continue instruction. There would no longer be as many days of catch-up if schooling was transferred online for the rest of the winter season.