Schools in Oklahoma have opened for the new 2020-2021 school year. Oklahoma’s Board of Education decided that students can go to school, but there will be different ways that students and teachers have to learn and teach. Covid-19 is a respiratory infection that originated from China in 2019. Since 2019, and it has become a world pandemic that caused schools to shut down during their spring breaks, and greatly alter their reopenings this fall.
Oklahoma schools had the choice to go either online/virtual learning and/or in school learning. Bus transportation has limited bus stops for students riding to and from school. For social distancing, schools have gone to masks and staying a certain distance such as three and six feet apart. School activities have been set to a minimum, with no large gatherings like pep assemblies. Students have to be separated at lunch, and in Canton, eat breakfast in their first hour classes. There are also signs in the hallway to separate traffic flow. In hallways, there are also hand sanitizer dispensers.
“School feels different to me because my classes are not as fun and lunch is weird, because I can’t sit next to my friends or stand in a group and talk like we used to,” Lea Vowell, sophomore, said.
Faculty members have to wipe desks and chairs down after every class and after school. For social distancing on buses, bus drivers take the town kids home, come back to the school, disinfect the seats and then take the out of town kids to their bus stops.
“At some point, all faculty and staff will be asked to be a good teammate. Although it’s not ideal, it provides different opportunities for us to better serve our students and help out our colleagues,” Patrick Rich, teacher, said.
Students and school staff members are encouraged to take their temperatures each morning, and stay home if they have a fever or any symptoms. Some of the well known symptoms of the virus are cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, chills, body aches, headache, fatigue, congestion or runny nose, loss of taste or smell, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, fever.