When COVID first came about in 2019 some people expected it to be similar to the flu, and expected it to blow over in a couple months. Little did they know, they were in for a wild ride. Earlier this year students were asked to do their school work from home after in person attendance was cancelled. Students were not required to complete the assignments due to the fact that some students do not have internet access. As the fall semester approached, students and parents were curious as to how the school district would handle the possible return of students. 

At the beginning of August, BPS (Bellevue Public Schools) decided that they would give students and parents the choice to either return to school in person with certain guidelines, or they could do remote learning through Acellus, an online learning program. When the families of students were informed of the parameters for return, they were under the impression that these would be set for the rest of the school year. 

These Guidelines implied that when the Sarpy County coronavirus dial, a dial that gauges the risk and spread of the virus, reached the high risk category the school would go to hybrid learning. When the dial shifted into the high risk category, students thought that the school would switch to hybrid learning, but when nothing was announced families were confused.

Instead of the district switching like they originally said, they instead decided to change the guidelines. Now with the adjusted plan, it says that instead of going hybrid or online, it is now up to the school board to decide if they think that there is internal spread amongst the school, the only issue with this is that this is not what families agreed on when they sent their children back.

When the parameters were edited, many people were confused as to why they were changed. At this point, most students were waiting for the district to make the call, but the community did not hear from the school board until the weekend. After the shift, the school board rewrote its parameters on how they would handle the pandemic, completely ignoring the previous plan. Once this plan was put into place, the statement started floating around about how this was a “fluid plan”. 

Something else that seems to be a common issue is the way that the school is handling covid with the students attending in person classes. For starters, kids are allowed 4 to a table in the lunchroom during lunch, but when it comes to taking mask breaks, they are only allowed 2 to a table. When it is cold outside, students are told to gather in areas like the lunchroom, senior commons, and even the front entry way to take off their masks, areas that are most likely crowded with other students who could have possibly been exposed to the virus. Classrooms have desks to the point that I could reach out and touch the person out in front of me. Masks are not the only thing that are going to save lives and keep us in school, it is going to take structure and people believing in a consistent system.