The West Shore School District gave high school students the option to stay online or go back to school with a hybrid schedule. While some students are choosing to stay online, others are taking this opportunity to get back into the normal swing of things back in Cedar Cliff High School.

Cedar Cliff students will be split into groups from last names A-K, Group A, and L- Z, which will be Group B. There will be assigned seating for all students. Desks will also be sanitized regularly.  Ashlyn Gault stated that what she was more worried about was, “The school not actually cleaning properly or the A group and B group not being split evenly enough.” Bailey Joseph also mentioned worries about the split between groups being uneven, along with students not properly wearing masks.

When asked about the options given, students had interesting responses as to what they believe is best for students. Emily Wilson said she believed staying online was the safest option and the best way to keep everyone safe, however, other students had different opinions about this. Given the same options, Bailey Joseph responded by saying “Personally, I feel that going back to school in a hybrid model is best for students because it allows students, like me who are burnt out on cyber to have some face to face learning while providing parents with the peace of mind that their child will not be exposed to vast amounts of people for a solid week but will rather have interspaced days of distance learning.”

Now the question is whether or not students will follow the rules. Bailey stated, “I believe that a decent number of students are not going to treat the new safety protocols seriously and will refrain from wearing their masks thus endangering everyone else . . . .” While the WSSD Health Guidelines do not state the consequences of failing to follow protocols, many agreed that there should be ways to be able to enforce these rules on students.

Another concern of students seems to be the two big events they all look forward to. Homecoming and sporting events, such as football. For many students, they are must haves. However, Emily, Ashlyn, and Bailey, have all agreed that homecoming is simply “a social event that can be cancelled”. When it comes to sporting events, they also agreed that only the families of students and seniors should be allowed in the stadiums, in which they will social distance and follow all CDC guidelines.