Jefferson’s administration announced plans to return students to in-person school for second semester after Jan. 26, 2021.
Students will have their initial selections from July honored. If they wish to switch from in-person learning to online or vice versa, they will be directed to a form to fill out by Nov. 6 2020.
The second semester in-person model will follow a hybrid, concurrent schedule, with 2 days online and 2 days virtual. Half the students will be taught on campus, while the other half will stream the class from home. Students who elect to stay completely virtual will continue their four days of online instruction. In order to respect teacher privacy, teachers’ decisions are not being made public, meaning that students could have a different set of teachers in the second semester than they did in their first semester.
Students expressed mixed feelings over the decision, citing changes in lifestyle as concerns.
“I’m conflicted because I want to see my friends again but also I spent so much time adjusting to virtual learning that I don’t think another change would be worth it,” sophomore Daniel Kim said.
Other students had misgivings about the health and safety of students in the proposed plan.
“As a 2021 grad, returning to school second semester is honestly my dream,” senior Didi Elsyad said. “But still, I’m not sure about how safe it would be, and that gives me second thoughts.”
However, social and emotional well-being also play a large factor in students’ decisions.
“I miss hanging out in the commons,” senior Nathan Suh said. “I just want to be in the building and the bus one more time really.”