With Camas High school opened up entirely now, students, teachers, and staff have many opinions on it. Some do best remotely whereas others do better two days or four days a week. Currently, students have the option to stay remote or attend in-person school.
Brian Witherspoon, a Counselor at CHS says that there are benefits to four days a week in-person school but he also wants to make sure that everyone feels safe. He has noticed that some students have been doing significantly better in person as they are able to interact with their teachers and classmates more often. He also noticed that other students have been succeeding much more online rather than in person.
Witherspoon says, “I like that students have a choice to stay remote and that students have a choice to be in person.” He also says that CHS is a “big school and there is no perfect solution, we just want everyone to feel safe.”
Sophia Rundle, a freshman at CHS says that she strongly prefers four days a week as she “gets to spend more time learning with friends.” She also says, “I feel more productive in person and being in my classes physically motivates me much more than being at home.” She enjoys the structure of four days a week and likes everything about it except for Advisory. Sophia says, “For me personally, Advisory is too long and I wind up having too much free time at the end of it. I think it is helpful but I wish it was shorter.” With the Covid restrictions (masks, 3 feet apart, sanitizing, etc…) Sophia feels safe attending school daily.
Mark Payne, an Honors English teacher at CHS also prefers fully in-person school. He says, “I think that the regularity of it is better than the alternating schedule of A cohort and B cohort. I also think that more time in the classroom is better from an education perspective.” He also enjoys having “less zoom students” as he finds that kids have more difficulty learning through zoom. Overall Mr. Payne believes that the majority of students learn best in person given the aspect that they have direct instruction and are able to socialize with their classmates. With that being said he also thinks that “frequently disrupting routines and introducing new ways of learning, attending class, etc. this late in the year has the potential to eat away at the in-person advantage that students might gain by switching first to hybrid and then to full in-person classes.”
Anastasia Aizen, a freshman at CHS says that she enjoys hybrid classes the most because she gets to spend time at home but also gets to see her friends. Although she prefers hybrid, she is comfortable with our current schedule saying, “I don’t mind being around a lot of people so full capacity is not an issue for me personally.” Her current favorite part of four days a week is that she gets to “meet new people” and see all of her friends.
Brianna Hartman, a freshman at CHS is comfortable with our current four-day-a-week schedule. She likes in-person school in general and is more of a social person. She says, “I like in-person learning because it gives me something to do in the day and keeps me productive. I also get to see my friends which is a plus.” As CHS pushes Covid safe guidelines on students, Brianna feels safe overall and CHS and continues to do her part in keeping her and her classmates safe.
Johan Cruz, a freshman at CHS likes being in school four days a week the most. He says, “In-person is a lot more engaging and it helps provide more structure to assignments and work rather than being able to just leave them till the last day to do.” He feels “safe because most kids have been fine that got Covid.” He is more concerned about his parents but still feels safe because they are both vaccinated. His favorite part about being back in person fully is “seeing everyone all together again.”
It seems as if most teachers, staff, and students prefer to be in person at least two days a week. Some more, some less. It is uncertain what next year’s schedule holds but CHS is hoping to continue our current four-day-a-week schedule if it can be done safely.
