Throughout 2020 school days and structure are something that has changed drastically. From completely remote, to a hybrid schedule, and to what the future holds for Upper St. Clair School District.  Currently, the school is working with a split hybrid schedule that is split up by last names. Some students like it, some don’t. When I asked students about their opinion on the current structure, junior Lilly Lund disclosed, “I really like the hybrid schedule because it spreads out my workload and helps me with my time management”. Her opinion was shared beyond many other students. Because this schedule’s set-up was similar to a college setting, it’ll help many students in the future. Many students have an hour to an hour and a half breaks in between classes where they can get the bulk of their homework done or catch up on past assignments. Students have grown accustomed to the new changes, but new developments for our school days are just around the corner.

Starting on November 16th, the school will implement a four-day schedule for all students. They are planning to have all students attend school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, but still have a fully remote Wednesday. The school worked hard to reach all of the students’ needs through an educational aspect and a safety aspect as well. Because we are still in a pandemic, the school needs to take into consideration the health risks of moving into a four-day week. There still needs to be social distancing, so how they will fit all of the students will be a struggle. The school’s plan is to reduce the distance between the desks to fit more, but at that expense, the students lose a mask break within the classrooms. I asked the Junior Class Student Council President, RJ Shontz, about the new changes. He said, “Our goal is to be able to move to a five-day week soon.” With this new change, there will be a full remote option, but the hybrid schedule is dissolved. 

Upper St Clair isn’t the only school to begin change back to a 4 or 5 day week. Schools such as Bethel Park, Chartiers Valley, Moon, and Peters Township have already or are planning on converting to a 4-5 day week. 

At the beginning of next year, January 19th, 2021, the school will move to a 5-day week. These changes are progressing and attempting to return to the past normalcy of the school routine. Seats, instead of being 6 feet apart, will become 4 feet apart to maximize desks in the classroom (roughly 24 desks in each classroom). Some students have mixed feelings about returning fully and the cancelation of the hybrid schedule. Junior Leah Lund explained her thoughts, “I am going to miss not having to wake up at 6:30 to get ready for school, but learning will be so much easier when we’re in person the whole week”. Like Lilly, many other students shared her opinion. Although there is a sense of security with the hybrid schedule, it is nice to see the school return to 5-days and bring back some normalcy while keeping its students and staff safe.

To read more:

https://www.uscsd.k12.pa.us/cms/lib/PA01000033/Centricity/Domain/17/10-26-20InstructModelProposal.pdf