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UPDATED: Oct. 7, 2020 at 5:58 p.m.

Maggie Boyle, a senior at Corcoran High School in Syracuse, was excited to return to in-person classes this week for the first time since the spring. At the same time, she understood the health concerns of bringing hundreds of students back to school at once.

Boyle is one of the thousands of Syracuse City School District students who returned to their school buildings this week. SCSD started the 2020-21 school year online on Sept. 14 and transitioned Monday to a hybrid model where students return for in-person classes twice per week.

“It’s hard to have all of us go back, especially in our huge district,” Boyle said.

After having a hard time adapting to online classes, several high school students in Syracuse and surrounding suburbs said they are grateful to resume in-person classes this week. Some wish, though, that the district would do more to increase the amount of in-person instruction students receive.

Under SCSD’s hybrid model, students are split into “pods” that determine which days of the week they’ll attend in-person classes, according to the SCSD website. In-person instruction will only take place in the morning, meaning that electives like physical education and art, which usually take place during the afternoon, will remain online-only.

In-person instruction will only take place in the morning, meaning that electives like physical education and art, which usually take place during the afternoon, will remain online-only. Katelyn Marcy | Digital Design Director

 “I can see where they’re coming from, (because) we can’t really share the same gym equipment or same art supplies,” Boyle said. “It just sucks. I feel like they could be doing more.” 

Islah Muhammad, another senior at Corcoran High School, said she feels like she needs to be in school and meet her teachers face-to-face. Doing homework on a computer and taking classes on Zoom hasn’t been easy, she said.

“(The re-opening plan) sounded pretty much put-together, but I’m not sure if that’s the best thing to do,” Muhammad said. “But I do believe it will help (students) a lot to go in a few days a week, but I just think they need to be cautious about it, how they go about doing things.”

Before resuming in-person classes, SCSD taught classes entirely online, having planned to supply all students with the technology necessary to access remote learning. But those plans fell short in many instances, with some families lacking the tools and training to use such technology or not receiving it all.

Other school districts in the area, such as Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District, have adopted hybrid models similar to SCSD’s.

Will Quackenbush, a senior at Jamesville-Dewitt High School, said he feels “pretty safe” returning to in-person classes. Quackenbush’s school resumed classes on Sept. 14 under a hybrid model, with some students attending classes in person on certain days of the week and other students joining remotely.

Quackenbush said his school has gone to “great lengths and measures” to keep students safe.

“We walk in, we get temperature checked, we sanitize our hands,” Quakenbush said. “Every classroom we walk in, we must sanitize our hands and wipe the desks top and bottom.”

Under Jamesville-DeWitt’s hybrid model, students attend in-person classes on either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday, depending on their last names, junior Marianna Lorenzo said. Students also have the option to complete their classes entirely online.

 Jamesville-Dewitt has designated Wednesdays as fully online days for high school students according to the school district’s reopening plan. 

“It’s good to have an opportunity to interact with teachers in person and learn that way as opposed to fully remote learning,” said Owen Fleet, a junior at Jamesville-Dewitt High School. “It’s a little weird not having everyone in the school at the same time. It feels kinda empty every now and then.”

Lorenzo said taking classes online this year has been more difficult than it was last year, when she already knew her teachers and understood their expectations. It’s difficult to get to know teachers through online classes, she said. 

Despite the difficulties, Muhammad and Fleet said they applaud their teachers for their hard work in adjusting to the new instruction.

 “It’s all a process, so no one’s gonna get it perfect right away,” Fleet said. “You know, they’re still working on it, but they’re definitely doing a pretty good job adjusting to it and figuring out how it all works.”

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, Islah Muhammad was misgendered in a previous version of this post. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Islah Muhammad’s last name was misspelled. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on October 5, 2020 at 9:41 pm

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