By: Charlotte Foulger – Correspondent

Sharon students started the school year with a choice between the hybrid plan where they go to school only two days a week, or a remote plan where they are at home every day. The school officials decided to implement the hybrid plan despite some resistance from teachers, parents, and students.

“The first week of hybrid classes was quite challenging, but I think the students and teachers did a wonderful job adjusting to a reopening plan that still had lots of holes and unanswered questions,” said biology teacher Mr. Zachary Snow.

Snow said that it’s been challenging to teach students both at home and in school at the same time and it’s been especially tiring changing lessons and assessments to make them online, although he knows using new technology is essential now. “It’s been great to see students engaged in learning again,” said Snow. 

“It was also stressful to welcome students into one of my classrooms that had its HVAC system in pieces on the floor for the first week of hybrid (not knowing when it would be fixed), but I’m happy to say that it finally seems to have been repaired,” he added. Snow says he hopes that these safety issues will continue to be fixed and wants there to be proper health screening. 

Sophomore Karina Dessalines said she’s pretty much adjusted to the hybrid plan and it wasn’t that hard for her. “At first it was super confusing but now it’s all cleared up, and I like it a lot,” said Dessalines. 

“I commend the teachers for being able to adjust to all these new things going on right now. I can see why a lot of teachers left though, it’s scary coming to school and being at risk of getting the virus,” added Dessalines. 

She says she’s a little worried about the school being able to safely hold classes since she has noticed that there doesn’t appear to be proper ventilation. “All the windows are open and the vents are blowing cold air at all times. It can be hard to focus in class when it’s so cold,” she said. 

Sophomore Mridula Ravindran decided to choose the remote model over the hybrid. When asked about the adjustment, Ravindran said, “I’m adjusting fine, I’m just trying to get the hang of it and go with the flow.” Since she’s in the remote setting, Ravindran is in front of her computer for the entire school day and afterwards for homework. 

“As long as the wifi is working I don’t mind doing classes on screens all day, but it’s annoying if the Wifi isn’t working,” Ravindran added.

The school has also instituted new schedules this year, which includes an A1 and A2 schedule with two eagle blocks instead of one. In the A1 schedule, students stay in their first period class for eagle block, while in A2, they have eagle block in their second period class. 

Junior Jack Broughton, who chose the hybrid model, said he thought they were both fine and didn’t mind either one of the two new schedules. He added that both eagle blocks were nice because he’s not as stressed when he gets home.

“You can get most of it, if not all, done in those eagle block times, and it’s just nice if you have chorus, band, or orchestra. It gives you an extra eagle block during your day when you can get your work done,” said Broughton. 

Dessalines and Ravindran both liked the extra eagle block as well. They used the time to get their work done, collect themselves, and possibly relax during the break in the day but felt differently about class times. “I kind of wanted there to be six periods in the day but they ended up going with the three periods. I would have liked it better if there were six periods, it would have been more collected,” Ravindran said. 

“Spending eighty minutes a class on zoom is very tiresome,” added Dessalines. But overall, she likes the new schedules. 

Snow said he has been happy with both eagle blocks so far. “It gives a lot of opportunity for extra help as well as music classes, and I think extra time for one-on-one help is especially important in this virtual era,” he said.