The final quarter of the 2019-2020 school year was taught through distance learning, due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The virus did not get better during the summer and it has forced Roseville High to go back to distance learning for the 2020-2021 school year. RHS students may return back to school once Placer County has been taken off the COVID-19 for an extended period of time. 

Due to this, Roseville has briefly talked about possibly bringing students back to school as soon as September 14. This will occur in phases, leading up to October 12 when RHS will adopt a full hybrid schedule.

Recently across America, certain school districts have attempted to open up schools to their students, but from the videos and information that has surfaced covering the schools doing this, it doesn’t look like that great of a system. Classrooms are too small to allow students to be socially distanced from one another, and there were even instances where students have refused to wear masks.

Another route you could take when observing those schools is that students may be getting distracted. When they are wearing a mask, seeing a bunch of other people wearing masks, and the vibe just being overall weirder than usual, it can distract some students who have a tough time focusing.

It is also noted that some students are actually more productive at school, rather than at home. There are pros and cons to going back to school, but for the most part, I don’t really see how it could be smart to send students back to school.

For one, there is no guarantee that students will stay safe outside of school. There is a very real possibility that a student could contract COVID outside of school, and then be unsafe at school because of a breakout of the virus. From that point on, the school could fall into a cycle where students go back to school, there is a breakout of the virus, students go back home for a couple weeks, and then the cycle repeats. 

I feel that RHS should try to be as consistent as possible when handling this virus. They don’t want to fall into the trap where they go back and forth from regular school to distance learning. They also shouldn’t resort to the hybrid schedule, as I feel like that could only cause problems with kids having to go back and forth to school.

Hybrid schedule would mean students attend school about half the week, and the other half of the week would be from home. Although logistically it sounds good, it would be an absolute hassle on kids having to go back and forth. As stated earlier, consistency is key.

RHS and the school district in general need to be smart with this. Being consistent will get the best use out of a student’s education, and will keep students and facility as safe as possible. All I propose is that Roseville keeps with the current distance learning schedule until COVID cases in Placer County drastically drop, because if the wrong decision is made, it could be very dangerous.