By: Saron Amdemeskel#

2/24/2021#

The Fairfax County Board has approved of the Return to School plan where student groups and staff will go back to the building which started on February 16. It will be hybrid, meaning that some students will be in the building and some at home. 6th graders will return on March 16, 7th graders will return on March 9, and 8th graders will return on March 2. By March 16, all students will have the opportunity to return to school buildings for at least two days a week. 

In an interview, when asked why they were going back to school, this 8th grade student said, “I feel that learning virtually is extremely difficult, and that the curriculum was definitely designed for in-person learning.” Adding on to this the student said, “I think it is a good idea to return because many students are struggling with online school, and it is important that students learn the material so that they do not fall behind in years to come.” Similar to this, Katarina Sochurek, 7th grade student, said, “They had safety precautions earlier in the year, so by now it MUST be safe.”

On the other side, Caroline Allison, 6th grade student, said, “The vaccine isn’t very widespread which for me makes it dangerous, and with the new COVID mutations and variants that might make the vaccine less effective make it an even more definite no for me.” When 6th grade student was asked if they think school should open at all this year, she said,  “I think maybe they should wait till next school year, because the vaccine might help stop the virus, and until everyone gets the vaccine it’s still a little risky for kids to go back to school.” Many students including 8th grader, Ashly Ordonez, think that it’s still unsafe, “I think it’s not as reasonable since there will be quite a lot of kids even if they are protected with masks, it just seems very risky. i wouldn’t want there to be some sort of unwanted spread of Covid-19.”

In a recent survey, 55% of Glasgow students said that they will not be returning to the school building in March. On the other hand, 32.4% of students said they would be returning and 12.6% said they were not sure. In the same survey, 51.4% said that they don’t think it’s safe to go to the building, 11.7% said they think it is safe to go back, and 36.9% said they’re not sure. Glasgow has very strong opinions about returning to school and the safety, but whatever you choose make sure you talk to your parents and stay safe.