by Ava Malae | November 16, 2020
On Friday, October 30, 2020, Mr. Jason Curtis and Mrs. Katie Teekell announced that Saint Francis may reopen campus next semester for live instruction in the form of a hybrid model. “We’re certainly planning to return to a hybrid model in January and we feel pretty confident that we can do that safely and effectively,” said Mrs. Teekell.
Multiple forms of the hybrid model were presented to families, and parents were asked to complete a survey to provide feedback on these different models. “We want to make sure we take all of [the feedback] and do our very best to synthesize it and come up with a final schedule that meets the most needs that we can, recognizing that there is no perfect schedule,” Mrs. Teekell explained. The feedback received from this survey varied—some families indicated that they would rather the students come to campus every day for half the day, while others preferred the original model, where students would come to campus for two days of the week and learn remotely for the other two days. At this time, the administration is still receiving feedback.
The administration received feedback not only from parents and families, but also from Saint Francis educators. The teachers’ main priorities are the safety of their students and the ability to teach students in the best way possible. “Our teachers are always going to look for any model that allows them the most time to teach their students,” stated Mrs. Teekell.
When students do come back to campus, they will be required to wear the new student IDs they received on Picture Day. These IDs will act as a safety measure in helping identify students more easily. Mrs. Teekell explained, “[When] returning to campus in the midst of a pandemic, like the one we’re experiencing…it’s really important for people to know and be confident in that we’re not having other people outside of our school community on our campus.”
Saint Francis educators and administrators have been working tirelessly to make distance learning the best it can be for the Lancer community. However, remote learning continues to present challenges, such as the lack of in-person connection. Returning to campus for live instruction will finally give students the social connection that distance learning cannot provide. Amélia Ávila (’24) said, “As a freshman, it’s definitely harder to make connections, especially with teachers, on Zoom. In-person classes would help make the connections easier.”
Returning to campus would allow the Saint Francis community to connect in other ways. “As a senior, I would really love to come back on campus for classes, especially during second semester,” says Atharv Karanjkar (’21). “I really want to see all my friends, peers, and teachers again. I also hope that we can have certain school-wide events, like prom and graduation, in-person. Hopefully, everything gets better, and we can return to school soon!”
