When I first heard about the school shutting down, I didn’t believe it. While it was not completely improbable, it was just really surprising. I knew that there was a recent upswing in cases, but I didn’t realize that it was such a big issue. When the news was confirmed, I was upset.

Essentially what’s going on is that there has been a recent uptake in cases since the beginning of the semester.  It went from one positive case on the third to over seventy earlier this week. Due to the fact that omicron is a highly contagious variant, the massive exposure one gets at school is too risky, so they decided to try and limit the number of cases by taking three days off.  In order to return to school on the 24th people need to show proof of a negative Covid test. 

Ultimately, while I understand the logic behind this decision, I still think that the effects of this decision are mostly negative. One of the biggest downsides to this course of action is the disruption within the classes, specifically AP classes. The Advanced Placement tests are taking place in May, so each class day until then counts. With these courses there is already a lot of rigor and fast paced, so the fact that we are going to miss three days means that we are going to be more crunched for time. There is also the fact that the flow of the class is being interrupted. When you take a break in the middle of a unit, especially for classes like math, you really feel that disruption because things need to continue building off of one another.

Additionally, these days are going to be tacked on at either the end of the year (shortening our summer vacation) or during spring break. Either way, the situation is certainly not ideal. Getting a break right now is not really necessary because we just returned to school, so people are not yet burned out (or they aren’t at the peak of exhaustion yet).  I would argue that we need a 14 day  spring break because it will be a necessary reprieve after three full months of school and a rest before the stressful months to come, particularly May. Having three days less of summer is certainly not desirable either. By that point students will just have no motivation to keep coming to school because it would feel like the school year is already over. There is also the issue of people already  having plans during either of these breaks and  being forced to cancel them. 

There are still a lot of unknowns, so it is hard to fully say what the repercussions of this decision will be. We don’t know what will happen if the situation continues to worsen, but it is vital that we each do our part to help stop the spread. Right now, we are just left with more questions than answers, and are forced to once again face the realities of society during a pandemic.