After break, Fulton County Schools go virtual for a week

Graphic by Disha Kumar, Features Editor

Mekayla Upton, Staff Writer & Krystal Wu, Social Media & Business Manager

After winter break, Fulton County Schools (FCS) made the executive decision to return to remote learning for the first week back. FCS decided that in-person school will be determined by COVID-19 cases of teachers and staff rather than the cases of students. 

"I think it [being online] was, [good] just because there were so many cases and it really went up over the break," junior Reilly Baker said.

In December 2021, FCS averaged 400 new COVID-19 cases per week. Now, in January of 2022, it has increased to an average of  2,000 per week. Due to this change, schools have implemented different policies based on their student populations. However, certain school policies are mandated by FCS, like the decision to keep schools open. 

“So really the only data point we’re looking at now is just staff,” Principal Brian Downey said. “Do we have the ability to keep our school opening and functioning because we have enough people to make it work?”

As principal, Downey discovers superintendent and FCS decisions just hours before the general public, and his scope of control in COVID-19 policies is limited. His work  is more concentrated on communicating information between parents, students, and the Fulton County Board of Health but he also decides certain specifics of schooling based on the guidelines set by the county. FCS releases COVID-19 restrictions each week for in-person school, and for Northview High School, Downey decides the best ways to implement them. At the start of this semester, the superintendent banned field trips and mandated masks and social distancing. 

“I feel like it's still very unsafe,” freshman Alex Hyun said. “And I don't feel like [the data point] makes a very big difference just because the teachers might not have COVID doesn't mean any of the students might not have COVID.” 

While FCS still allowed sports to continue after school in the first few weeks back, they did not allow after school clubs, so Downey implemented these rules at Northview. He also split lunches A and B into lunches A, B, C, and D, so he shortened each lunch by 15 minutes, and Titan Time was switched from third to fourth period to accommodate for the extra lunch time. 

“It hasn't impacted me too much because I still have a couple of friends but I know a lot of people that it's kind of a struggle for them,” sophomore Aleck Zepf said. “Because they're kind of just sitting there alone.”

Students were not the only ones impacted by the switch from online to in-person. Teachers have also had to change their schedules to conform to the county guidelines, and not all feedback is positive. 

“If I wanted to do online learning, I would teach an online high school.” Elizabeth Lake, AP Language teacher, said. 

Teachers had to prepare a versatile lesson in case of online or in-person classes. Many also prepare online versions when class is in-person so students at home due to COVID-19 have a chance to maintain pace with their classes if possible.  For instance, at the beginning of every week, Lake has  been posting an overview of  what her class is doing each day. 

Overall, school, in-person or online, with COVID-19 has its positive and negative sides to each person, but FCS is set on trying to keep the in-person connection between students and teachers safe. 

“I think [remote learning] can be differently effective, I think there are people who were able to thrive in the online setting, and from subject to subject that might have looked different,” Lake said.