As we know with the covid cases slowly decreasing the district is starting to open everything up again. This has lead to the opening of schools full-time with all students and no more hybrid scheduling. How will this transition affect the school and safety of the students and staff?

Utica Community Schools announced that all schools will be returning full-time in-person on March 15th. This means that all students will have to come into school unless they are self-quarantining or have been exposed to the virus.

“I’m very excited to be able to go in into school with all of my classmates and not just half”, said senior Bhavin Patel. “It will for sure look a lot different, but once we make all the necessary adjustments it will feel kind of normal again”.

Some major adjustments that have been made are when a student has tested positive all of the people that were sitting in a 6 feet radius of them must quarantine at home. This quarantine can last anywhere from 7-14 days.

Another adjustment the school has made to make sure all of the students are safe is the custodial staff twice a day disinfect every touching point in the school. This is to reduce the amount of the spread around the school and ensure every student stays healthy.

The teachers have been working tirelessly in order to balance the online and in-person students. It has been a very stressful year for them, from learning all of the technology to ensuring that every student gets the help they need.

“Teachers have a more challenging responsibility this year,” said Principal Tom Lietz, “balancing in-person and online students at the same time can be very stressful”.

The CDC has recently found a study saying that masks are effective and that the 6 feet rule could possibly reduce to 3 feet. So we could see another adjustment around the school within these last few months of the school year.