The Shutdown at Woodstock High School

Staff Writer: Maddie Williams

Woodstock High School (WHS) made the decision on August 19th to close school for two weeks. WHS students will return on September 3 Students will do online school and have Teams meetings with their teachers. Woodstock made a schedule for online called an A and B schedule. A days you have 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th. On B days you have 2nd, 4th and 6th.

Students have mixed feelings about online school. Emma Beith, a sophomore at WHS, said, “Online school isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but I think the break from school would be good for the students who have gotten COVID-19 to recover and same with the students who got sent home because of close-contact.”

As a student at WHS, I personally think that online isn’t the best thing, but I want students to be safe. It was very hard to get motivation to do schoolwork since no one’s pushing you to get your work done. Many students prefer to learn at school and I strongly agree.

When we started school on August 3, many people were excited to go back but “knew” we wouldn’t be in school for long. I remember my mom telling me she thought we were going to be in school for only two weeks.

I was excited to get back to school and I thought maybe everything is starting to become the same. Then I realized that people weren’t wearing masks. Students at WHS started to become sick with, or exposed to, COVID-19. At that point I realized that we were going to be back online, and things weren’t going to be normal for a while.

Emma stated, “I wasn’t surprised that we got shut down to be honest. Everyone should’ve known that we were going to get shut down at some point because it would be very hard not to spread it. Not to mention that students barely wore their masks. I think every day I saw maybe 20% of students wearing them and the rest weren’t.”

How do some of the teachers feel about moving online only for two weeks? Literature teacher and head swim coach Courteney Hooks said, “While I was sad that I wouldn’t get to see my students for two weeks, I knew that it was a necessary step to keep us all safe.”

Math teacher Rachel Koeninger responded, “I greatly prefer in-person teaching. I love seeing my students’ faces when I talk to them and I enjoy their questions and comments. With digital so often students don’t have their cameras on, and they are hesitant to talk on a Teams call. I feel like it is so much easier to connect with my students when we are in a room together and I miss walking around and helping.”

Some teachers are excited for their students to return to class after the two weeks such as Mrs. Koeninger. “I am literally so excited for students to come back to school! I have seen so many students do a great job of social distancing and I think we are going to see kids and adults continue to be careful.”

Online has been working for these past two weeks, but I can’t wait to be taught in person. Many teachers can agree.