The Chesterfield County School Board has decided to start sending students back to school with a 4-1 vote. There is no set date yet for high school students to return, although elementary schoolers have the option to return to school five days a week on February 1st, with high school students to return some time before the end of the 3rd marking period. Just as before, students will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing while at school. Additionally, all high schoolers must participate in virtual learning five days a week instead of four starting February 1st.

With the schedule change and the unknown high school return dates, some students have taken issue with this decision, largely regarding the loss of Wednesday as an asynchronous work day. 

“Honestly, I love Wednesdays because I have one day that I can do school work without the stress of hopping on the classes and getting extra work,” Senior Haleigh Heiser said.  “It gives me time to complete work that I get behind on because of less time throughout the day. I honestly don’t know how I feel about it.”

The school board claims their decision to start cycling kids back to in-person learning was based on scientific data that supports the idea that schools are not super spreaders of Covid-19. For example, the school board stated that “recently, the Harvard Global Health Institute and other esteemed research groups (i.e. Brown University) working together on school reopening studies noted that, “Since July, our scientific understanding of COVID has increased significantly, as has our understanding of degrees of risk in schools, and we can now recommend that schools be open even at the very high levels of spread we are now seeing, provided that they strictly implement strategies of infection control” in their most recent newsletter update. 

The school board will meet again on February 9th to decide if and when high schoolers can return to in-person schooling. If high school reopens, then students and their families will once again have the option to return to the building or stay home and continue virtual learning, though the decision will be binding. No matter what happens in the future, remember to stay safe and keep up with your school work. 

Information regarding school safety and Covid-19 can be found at mychesterfieldschools.com/coronavirus-information/.