On Friday the district sent a communication letter detailing a new schedule being put in place for the next two weeks to help students catch up on schoolwork during a quarantine period.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students will be released at 2:02, an hour earlier than normal dismissal, so that teachers have time to connect with students via Zoom.

Rather than creating a synchronous virtual option similar to last year, this flexible schedule gives students similar opportunities to ask questions, talk to teachers, and makeup missing assignments while at home.

The letter also announced that, moving forward, students who must isolate after testing positive with COVID-19 will receive a letter at the beginning of their quarantine period detailing academic and emotional support opportunities.

It reminds students it is their “responsibility to maintain open communication with each teacher during and after quarantine/isolation to ensure [their] academic needs are being met.”

This communication letter is the second of two sent out in the last two weeks.

The first was sent on Jan. 14 and addressed concerns about the rise in COVID cases, largely due to the highly transmissible omicron variant and the cold weather forcing people inside.

This letter fueled an ongoing debate over the best way to ensure student safety during this time. Both students and parents took to social media to share their concerns–using different, generationally-consistent platforms.

Parents have taken to Facebook to argue for a universal mask mandate because it would shorten the quarantine period to five days instead of ten, citing that a longer quarantine period is causing children “to be unable to have this education.” Others noted that COVID, especially omicron, is becoming a part of normal life, so it doesn’t make sense to try and shut down the school or impose a mask mandate. 

A student-run account, “EGR Students for Masks” advocated for a mask mandate because “we cannot risk having to shift to virtual school, as it will negatively impact our students and our teachers.” Students leading the account also scheduled a protest at the district administration building, which was recently postponed due to weather concerns. 

“We made this account to voice our opinion on The School Board’s response to the new COVID variant and the ever-increasing amount of cases,” one student who runs the account said. “We were/are hoping to convince the school board to implement a mask mandate. We hope to see a mask mandate implemented by the school for the next few weeks, and at least see more done that what is currently being done to combat COVID-19 (close to nothing.)” 

The two account owners wished to remain anonymous. 

Grace Fellows ‘23 said she is fully vaccinated and plans on getting the booster shot once eligible, so she feels comfortable not wearing a mask while in school. 

“If cases start picking up a lot and we start seeing lots of people getting contact-traced and not being able to come to school, then I’ll definitely start wearing one,” Fellows said. “I wouldn’t be against [a mask mandate], it’s just a matter of doing what needs to be done in order to keep people safe.”  

Natalie Yates ‘23 shared a similar sentiment. She recently started wearing a mask due to the surge in cases, and wouldn’t be opposed to a universal mask mandate to help eliminate the spread of COVID-19 and other common winter-thriving illnesses. 

“I have all the vaccines and the booster shot and I have started wearing a mask at school as well, especially with the rise in COVID cases, so I don’t necessarily feel secure in the fact that I won’t get COVID, but I feel more safe knowing even if I do get COVID it won’t be as severe,” she said. “If they need a mask mandate, that obviously means there’s a good reason to put it in place.”