When Will We Be Human?
Written By Miles Klind
With COVID-19 looming as a threat to students’ health, the Fall of 2020 brought with it many challenges and experimentation. The educational system was forced to evolve to meet students’ physical and mental needs. Each state tackled this challenge differently.
In the rural resort town of McCall, nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, educators utilized combinations of in-person, hybrid, and remote learning to protect students from the dangers of infection. For example, at the local high school, half of the students attended Mondays and Wednesdays; the other half attended Tuesdays and Thursdays, alternating Fridays.
While the professional world was crumbling around them, students were given downtime they had never experienced before. While students were expected to compete for online material on days off with an alternating schedule, many took this newfound freedom as an opportunity to join the workforce.
According to the Idaho Department of Labor, in March 2020 (the beginning of the pandemic), the percent of the unemployed labor force was 2.7%. By April, this figure had risen to 11.6%. Without a traditional labor force, businesses were in desperate need of help.
Connor Hill, a senior at McCall-Donnelly High School (MDHS), began working at McCall’s high-end resort hotel, the Shore Lodge. With students attending half as many school days, teachers worried learning was suffering; this made many consider readopting a full-time attendance policy.
“The high school was starting to play a major part in the workforce in McCall,” said Hill. “Some of us couldn’t just go back.” Local educators weren’t entirely thrilled with the situation.
Kylie Christensen, an AP government teacher at MDHS, still feels the stress lingering with her colleagues. “It sucked ass,” said Christensen. “The material we needed to cover stayed the same… but we had half the time.” Last year, with students attending half as many school days, teachers worried learning was suffering.
“I think that there is an added pressure [on teachers] to catch kids up,” Mrs. Christensen said. She said this added pressure is urging more educators to consider early retirement.
Melissa Maini is a teacher at Donnelly Elementary School, one of the two elementary schools in the district. Prompted by the pandemic, she has taken a sabbatical from teaching, studying mindfulness, and mediation over the last year. She eagerly awaits Fall of 2022, when she is scheduled to return to her position teaching fourth grade.
Maini remembered the anticipation to return to in-person learning. She recalled a conversation she had with one of her students over Zoom: “When are we going to be human again?”
According to the CDC, in Idaho, the total number of deaths involving Coivd-19 equaled roughly 1,541 in 2020. Now, this figure has risen to over 4,007. With the death count rising, teachers focused on balancing education and safety.
Students of all ages were excited to go back to class. “When you’re nine… there is an element of excitement to everything,” Mrs. Maini said, referencing to Covid-19 precautions she implemented in her classroom.
The Donnelly Elementary fourth-grade class was broken into “pods” where students would socialize with a group of three to four students. These rules kept the spread of germs to a minimum.
Various methods were implemented across the McCall-Donnelly School District to see what strategies worked best for both students and teachers.
One teacher refused to see his students’ learning suffer. So, before the school year, Bill Borg, an AP Chemistry and Calculus teacher at MDHS, met with the school principal, Tim Thomas. “We collectively made a decision early in the year not to sacrifice student achievement,” Borg said.
Borg required his AP students to attend lectures on their “days off.” Because these students were already enrolled in advanced classes and were “highly motivated learners,” as Borg put it, they did not oppose the extra class time.
Still, most MDHS students did not attend daily. “I know some kids were at the ski hill every other day… others held down full-time jobs,” said Borg. “I’m kind of amazed at the resilience of young people.”
After two years of on-and-off isolation, the world is not the same. So many have been forced to put their lives on hold. Weddings, family reunions, graduations, and funerals have all taken their place on the back burner. There is a question in the air: when are we going to be human again?