As the second half of the school year approaches, KHS students are still learning under a virtual or hybrid schedule. The question of schools opening up the option for students to attend four days a week is still left unanswered by the district.
The coronavirus has shifted KHS’s normal routine to a largely virtual platform. With the school year swinging by, schools continue to see more students turning over to learn completely virtual. This has resulted in fewer students attending school in the building.
Although many students do enjoy the virtual learning experience, there is a handful that is on the other side. Being taught in the classroom with the ability to easily participate and interact with others is what some students thrive off of. The hybrid schedule is just not enough for them to fulfill their learning needs and perform well academically.
Freshman Sophie Pogodin states, “I have found my participation and knowledge of the material being taught improves while I am in the classroom.” It is much easier for students to become distracted by other objects and devices when sitting at home, so to get the best out of their learning they need to be in the school as much as possible.
Another freshman Maddy Maher says, “I would be open to possibly coming to school more, as I would be able to see more friends and participate better.” While there aren’t as many students who prefer to be in the building, they are still being greatly affected by this change.
With the vaccine in place, Kinnelon may be making its way to this option of four days. Before the holidays, a survey was sent out from the school asking families if students would be interested in possibly attending in-person school four days out of the week. After this was conducted, there was no follow up on whether this could happen.
With respect to the virus, people are eager to get back to school as they originally would. Enhanced participation occurs in the classrooms and some students prefer the school environment as it improves their work outcomes. Moving forward, the likelihood of this possibility will continue to be taken into account and hopefully bring out some positive results for students.
