The Story
BHS is moving into Phase 3 of the reopening plan. And guess what that means? Another new schedule.
Again?
Yep. Phase 3 means that all hybrid students are in person all day 5 days a week with 3 feet of social distancing instead of 6. This means no more weird Wednesdays and four classes every day in person, alternating between Red and Silver days. But we haven’t actually been given the schedule yet, so we don’t know exactly what it will look like.
When is this change?
The administration is aiming to make the switch on Monday, March 29th. However, this date is contingent on the arrival of some PPE, specifically plexiglass for lunch tables. So depending on when the PPE arrives, we might not actually be able to start on the 29th. And we won’t know whether or not the plexiglass will be here on time until sometime this week.
What about remote students?
Fully remote students will remain fully remote for Phase 3. This means more live-streaming into classes, or concurrent learning if you want to get fancy. Remote students will come back fully in person for Phase 4, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Any other curveballs?
Of course. Advisory is included in the new schedule, but with some slight modifications. There will only be one advisory block, so no Advisory A for freshmen and sophomores and Advisory B for juniors and seniors. But there’s still the issue of not having enough classrooms for everyone to have advisory at the same time. To get around that, we’ll only have advisory every other day, two grades on red days and the other two grades on silver days. It’s complicated, we know, but it wouldn’t fit the theme of this school year if it wasn’t complicated.
What about parking?
Up until now, parking permits haven’t been required because there haven’t been enough kids going to the school at once to warrant the need for them. But like everything else, that’s also changing. The lucky juniors and seniors who won the lottery for permits to park on campus get to park in Junior and Senior lot respectively. Everyone else either needs to get a parking permit from the town to park in the pool lot or the little league lot, or find a different way to get to school. However, the town permits are completely sold out now, so if you didn’t already get one, you’re out of luck. Maybe next time try lining up at 4:40 in the morning like some students did a few years ago.
The Runaway
Hybrid high school students are going back fully in person. Let chaos ensue.
What to Say…
When the diversity activity doesn’t get shot down by the school board…
Well, we made it through diversity day, and while it wasn’t as offensive as The Office, it certainly had some faults. The student narratives, delivered through podcasts, were both powerful and resonating. But they were very watered down by the Jamboard discussion questions that were organized by the teachers on the Diversity Committee. A student from the Diversity Committee attested that most of the students were against having the Jamboard to share opinions, and were looking for more open discussion guided by advisors. But since when has the administration listened to student opinions? According to some students we talked to, there was hardly any discussion in some advisories and some decent discussion in others. Of course, we expected that every advisory would have one or two kids who missed the whole point of the exercise, and based on the accounts of the students we talked to, those kids definitely lived up to expectations. According to Jozokos, there will be more discussion days like this, centered around other sensitive topics such as sexism and homophobia. But we have no idea when those are happening. We don’t even know what the schedule will look like a week from now.
When you finally get good news about COVID…
This week New Hampshire has finally moved to Phase 2a of the vaccination distribution. This phase includes getting K-12 school staff and teachers vaccinated. While New Hampshire was one of the last states to move onto this phase, this is a crucial step in working towards completely reopening everything. Scheduling for staff vaccinations at vaccination clinics officially started on Wednesday. For Bedford schools, the vaccination clinic was held on Saturday the 20th in the BHS gym. Staff got their first dose of the Moderna vaccine and will get their second dose on April 17th. At the clinic on Saturday, special guest Jon Snow, a firefighter here in Bedford and Peter Woodbury alumnus, helped distribute the vaccine. Mischka, the Bedford police department comfort dog, also paid a special visit. Because who doesn’t love a little puppy love?
Things to Know
Make sure to drop off your paperwork…
Spring sports tryouts start next Monday, March 29th.
Cramming time…
Juniors take the SAT on Wednesday. Which means no classes for everyone else!