School to close temporarily next week due to an increase in COVID case in Lake County
Photo by Photo illustration by Sasha Kek
The high school will shift to elearning next week between October 26 to November 9, which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on perspective. “Although [teachers] might have a more difficult time teaching through Zoom, I think that they’ll feel probably more comfortable [shifting to elearning] because I know a lot of my teachers were expressing that they were nervous to go back into the school; a couple of them had to take a leave of absence because of it,” Annie Moriarity, freshman, said. “Some [parents] may be like, ‘Okay, whatever,’ but parents who might need their kid to be in school for childcare purposes might feel a little upset.”
Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases within Lake County, the school will go remote next week from October 26 to November 9.
According to the New York Times Illinois Covid Map, there are currently 20,042 cases in Lake County , 14 of which are in District 95. In order to slow the spread and, the Lake County Health Department advised all schools to close down on October 20 in order to maintain safety.
“I’m not feeling too good about [the temporary closure], and I bet this is the same for everyone,” Armaan Anand, junior, said. “If this continues until next semester, I will be very disappointed because I was looking forward to getting back to school next semester.”
However, while Anand and many others who have just begun hybrid learning are hoping for a quick return to in-school learning, Anand says that he is not optimistic about the situation.
“We would be lucky if we go back to hybrid in a two weeks, because this is a long-term thing and I know they will keep extending it until further notice and it’s safe to get back to school,” Anand said. “If kids go to school, especially with sports, that could cause cases to increase and then more people get sick and they’ll be in danger, so that’s why I would think they would extend it. Also, if the governor or the health organization said that we need to stay closed, then obviously they would have to stay closed.”
For most students, the closure of LZ schools in the face of a county-wide rise in cases makes sense, despite district 95’s low numbers. In fact, Annie Moriarity, freshman, says going remote again might not be too bad, as “makes it easier for everyone to have consistency and have the most attention given to them,” which she says there is a lack of because teachers have to divide their attention between in-person and remote learners.
“Hybrid really isn’t that consistent because of the days that you go and the days that you do e-learning, and oh my goodness, what if I cough? Now I have to quarantine. It just gives a lot less consistency than e-learning, which you do every day,” Moriarity said, “The district made the right decision – if more kids and more teachers got sick, it would get out of hand and that would be really bad – and hopefully this [period of] e-learning will allow for a decrease in COVID cases and flatten the curve.”
This is Sasha’s third and final year working with the Bear Facts staff as the LZ Life Editor. Aside from helping Bear Facts run smoothly, you can find...
