As we near the end of the first quarter, online classes have finally started to work out the kinks and students are becoming more acclimated with doing school from the comfort of their home. However, students are still wondering, when will we go back to school?

Right now, Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS) has been instituting Governor Roy Cooper’s Plan C, which is entirely virtual. However, the School Board has been discussing going back to school in person. 

“There are [Board members] who want to remain in Plan C and others who want to transition to Plan B,” School Board member Leah Crowley said. “Right now, the plan calls for two days of in-person instructure every other week. This is because RJR is a 4A school.”

Junior Johan Paniagua-Nava has had a difficult time adjusting to the new version of school. 

“In terms of learning, it’s very difficult for me to learn online,” Paniagua-Nava said. “It’s like we aren’t learning, we are just trying to get things done by due dates. Math was already hard for me but online it’s like torture, and the tutoring option in online learning isn’t 1-1 like it would be in school.”

These frustrations have left him missing school even though he was never a fan of it in the first place. 

“I never really enjoyed learning in school but the environment and experience itself is so hard to replace” Paniagua-Nava added. “Just being at school is lowkey a blessing as everyone we knew would just be in one area, and that’s hard to get back in these times.”

Teachers are itching to get back in the classroom as well. English teacher Rodney Allen is amongst the teachers wanting to return. However, he only wants in person classes if it can be done in a way that is safe and healthy for not only him but his students as well. 

“I do not want us to return to in person instruction until we can do so safely in a manner that administration, teachers, students, and parents are comfortable with,” Allen said.

Almost every student, teacher, and parent wants students to return to school in person but with that comes another adjustment period. 

“Most students and teachers want to get back to schools and will cooperate with all the safety measures to make that happen,” Crowley said. “We also have the benefit of learning from other schools that have been doing in-person instructure since August 17. We can use their best practices to make this all go more smoothly.”

Students will have to adjust back to their old lifestyle that has been stripped away for so long by COVID-19. 

“I would definitely like to go back to in person learning because I feel like I’m a lot more productive at school,” sophomore Cece Butler said. “But I feel like it’ll be pretty difficult to go back to learning at school, since we all just adjusted to learning from home.”

Crowley is not only on the Board but has a student at RJR as well.

“I feel good about sending my child back to RJR,” Crowley added. “I think the students will understand the need to wear masks and social distance.”

On October 1, the school board voted on whether to enter Plan B or stay in Plan C. The vote won for schools to begin transitioning to Plan B. Although this plan does not allow students to return full time, it shows that the county is heading in that direction. Now the wait is on until students and teachers can get back in the classroom as plans. 

More information about the plans for return can be on the WSFCS website: https://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/Page/115981