Due to being exposed to COVID-19, students and teachers went to school virtually while in quarantine. To interact, they joined virtual Microsoft Teams meetings.
TV production teacher Richard Curtis was one of the first teachers to get sick with COVID-19. According to Curtis, he was tested on a Wednesday, and got his positive result that Saturday. His symptoms included a cough, chills, no taste or smell and body aches. According to Curtis, “It was not like your typical flu.”
According to Curtis, while in quarantine, he also infected his wife and two children, but no students.
Curtis said that he was still able to teach his classes, which entail students creating videos to share with the class.
“I still taught every day. During COVID, I was still getting online for 15 to 20 minutes getting my kids set up because my class is usually project-based,” Curtis said.
According to junior Ashlyn Odenwald, she had to quarantine after being exposed to someone with COVID-19.
“I was in the middle of my block two physics class when I got a call to the classroom. I was asked to go down to the office to talk to one of the administrators,” Odenwald said. According to Odenwald, the administrator told her that her parents needed to be called and that she was exposed to someone with COVID-19 and needed to quarantine for 14 days.
“I think they handled it pretty well,” Odenwald said.
Because she was well enough, Odenwald went to school virtually.
“My teachers were pretty cool about it. Some of my teachers had me sign into school synchronously,” Odenwald said.
“My physics teacher posted asynchronous assignments that his online academy was doing. He told me to email him if I had any questions, posted videos of the stuff in class he was doing, and also sent me work to do,” Odenwald said. “Other classes had me log in synchronously and had me take notes with them and do other assignments on Schoology,” Odenwald said.
According to Odenwald, she likes the virtual learning environment.
“I feel like I have so much time on my hands,” Odenwald said.
“When you’re in school, obviously you have to stay in class for the full duration and by doing it virtually I can get done what I need to get done. So, the teacher could go on and teach what we need to do and then set us free and if I finish early I can do other things I need to get done,” Odenwald said.
While also in quarantine, senior Aiden McClellan said he prefered in-person learning rather than learning virtually.
“I like in-person school better. I find it easier to learn and pay attention. There are too many distractions at home, I find,” McClellan said. “But, it’s a lot better than when you used to miss a day of school because you’re not as far behind.”