The new hybrid schedule at SPASH. Love it or hate it; it is now what we’re currently stuck with due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of this pandemic, schools have had to come up with creative solutions to minimize the risk of catching the virus so that students are able to attend school whether it be through full E-Learning or a mix of E-Learning and in-person classes.

Though there are some issues with the new schedule it seems to be the best available solution that we currently have; Thus we will have to stick with it for now and see what happens in the near future.

Ms. Melville, assistant principal at SPASH says, “There is no perfect plan, but the schedule we have now is the most flexible option that we have to work with.” She also likes that there are fewer students in classes and in the hallways which makes it easier to manage and stay safe against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Oliver Groeschke, a Junior at SPASH, says that he loves the new schedule, “I am able to spend more time with my family, have more time to rest and go to work and still be able to attend school classes for two days.” He also says that, “The two in class learning days help me do better in school than just full E-Learning.”

Though the current schedule is good there are some issues which are that some students have become less motivated and don’t actually learn as much as they do in classes on their E-Learning days. Melville says, “students aren’t actually going into the E-Learning courses and only looking at the to do lists[on the right side of Schoology’s homepage] and doing those.”

A way we can improve academic achievement  is through more communication between the students and teachers, and simply just students actually treating the school work more seriously and doing it.

We really almost have no other choice but to stick with this schedule since it is the only schedule available to be able to get around the Covid-19 pandemic and still be able to get kids in school. 

Recently there was new information sent through email to school staff members on October 26, 2020 about there being a change to the schedule on the days of November 30th through December 23rd to become full E-Learning days for all students with in-person classes resuming on January 4th. Information from the email explains the reason for this change, “This E-Learning period for all students is necessary to limit unexpected short and long-term closures heading into the cold and flu season, allow teachers to focus on one form of instruction, and allow the District to restructure Flexible E-Learning for students who wish to remain online for the remainder of the school year.” This is a sudden change just like how when Covid-19 suddenly hit last school year and forced all students into E-Learning during the months of March and June. This really comes to show that everything can change unexpectedly without you expecting it.