With the beginning of school starting back up, so is something else — COVID-19. With only two weeks of school done, teachers and students are already feeling the effects of COVID-19.
Junior Henry Berg said the hardest thing about teachers being gone due to COVID-19 in the first weeks of school is the lack of relationship building.
“We really haven’t had a relationship with the teachers that have had COVID-19 because
they’re just not there. So it’s pretty rough,” Berg said.
Junior Owen Barnett said the absence of teachers means having a harder time understanding lectures.
“When my teachers are sick and out of the class it takes time away from our class lectures,” Barnett said. “So it’s more work that we have to do by ourselves and we don’t have a great understanding of what we’re supposed to do.”
International Baccalaureate (IB) Biology teacher Julie Schilz said missing the first day of school because of COVID-19 was rigorous.
“I missed the first two days because of COVID-19, which was really terrible and I’ve never missed the first day of school ever,” Schilz said. “So that was really sad because I love the first day of school.”
According to Berg, having subs takes a toll on the whole class.
“It’s hard to learn from a sub who’s not really familiar with the subject,” Berg said.
According to Schilz, staying in contact with students while having COVID-19 was not a problem. Instead of approaching students, Schilz said she decided to email parents.
“I emailed parents and guardians saying what was going on but because it was the first two days of school Schoology wasn’t even up at first, so I didn’t send a message until I got back,” Schilz said.
Berg said it’s hard to understand work without teachers present.
“It’s really hard to grasp the full subject of what we’re talking about when our teachers aren’t really there,” Berg said.
