Hull High School’s ninth-graders returned to in-person classes on Monday, and, despite some minor challenges, freshman class president Ruby Schultz thinks the start went well.
“I feel like there have been a few bumps, especially with the technology in certain classes, but overall it’s better to have the smaller tech issues in person than being hybrid,” said Schultz.
Some teachers had classes moved to larger spaces to accommodate social distancing and may have had some difficulty getting used to the new spaces and the technology associated with the change.
Schultz said she “didn’t see any problems” during the school days but acknowledged, “I know a lot of people weren’t very happy with their schedules.” Many students had their schedules changed as new sections of English, Spanish, introduction to physics, and history were created.
An initial concern was that bringing students back four days a week would cause an increase in coronavirus cases. Schultz said she is not too worried “now that we’re doing pool testing. The school will be able to detect [cases].”
On Monday, the school nurses started pool testing, which enables the swabs of multiple students to be tested together. This type of testing is expected to help the school detect cases that may otherwise have been unidentified, making students safer.
Although some were against the return of freshmen to in-person learning, Schultz believes “it’s better for everyone overall” and noted that it was “inevitably going to happen.”
“I just want to thank the teachers,” she said. “I know this has been pretty hard for them … for being so good with the transition.”
