For Boulder High students, returning to school amid a pandemic has been a haunting question that no one has the answer to. Throughout the summer, we were teased with possible solutions for returning to in-person learning. At one point, we were planning for the Phase 4 plan of returning to full in-person learning with social distancing and mandated masks. As the summer progressed and the harsh reality killed the dream of returning to in-person learning, Boulder High Students were left waiting for the faithful day of September 22nd to get a final decision on if we will be returning to school this semester or not.

However, even if the decision is made to begin hybrid learning, thousands of students, parents, teachers, and even scientists have asked a bigger question: If my school reopens during this pandemic, is it safe to go back? 

In many ways, this school year is like no other. For months now, BVSD community members have been waiting to hear a final decision made by BVSD Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson on whether or not BVSD schools, including Boulder High School, will be reopening in September. During a recent BVSD Board meeting, members layed out their plan to reopen certain schools in “phase 2+,” meaning limited In-Person Learning, starting this month for select groups of students, including the return of K-2 students to class on Tuesday, September 29.

Phase 2+ is a significant step to reopen schools this semester, bringing back together younger students whose attention span on a computer might be completely different from a high schooler, but what does this mean for the rest of middle and high schoolers?

It doesn’t mean much. Right now, we are continuing to wait until the board’s decision when we get some clarity if we will be in our high school building ever again.

Personally, I think this is too soon. As we have seen through viral photos of schools reopening too quickly and universities already having a spike in COVID-19 cases, not even a full month into school shows that teenagers and young adults can not contain the virus’s spread. 

I feel bad that these students are already being sent home, but I only feel that way towards the students taking precautions, self-isolating, and only leaving their dorms for class. Many students have been continuing to party and participate in events that multiple students attend, sometimes with no masks. Similar to Boulder High, staff can only control student’s actions from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. After that, they have no real control of what these kids do on their own. That’s the tricky part. Theoretically, going to school, staying far away from peers and teachers, having plexiglass between desks, wiping everything down, wearing a mask and washing your hands would make for a safe learning environment. But if one student goes out the night before, contracts COVID-19 and spreads it around the school, they haven’t just potentially infected their classmates, but also their classmate’s families, their teachers’ families, and so on. This ongoing list of potential infections is the most dangerous part of high schoolers returning to in-person learning.

Elementary students do not face the same problem. They cannot drive themselves or go to any fraternity/sorority parties. Many of them will go directly home after school and the odds of them being irresponsible is very unlikely since they do not necessarily have the choice. 

I know how I feel about this challenging topic, but I was curious to see how some of my peers feel about this issue.

About a week ago, I sent out a survey to 200 random Boulder High students of all different grade levels; 78 people took the survey. I asked six questions related to the possibility of returning to school amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

70.5% of students responded that yes, they would feel comfortable participating if Boulder High implemented a hybrid form of learning. Only 29.5% said no. When asked “If Boulder High implements a hybrid form of learning, do you think the administration would take proper precautions to keep students and teachers safe?” 74.4% of students said yes. That being said, it appears the hesitation of returning to school does not fall into the fear administration would not do everything in their power to keep students safe; the fear of contracting COVID-19 falls within their classmates.

When asked if they thought the majority of students would follow the appropriate guidelines if Boulder High were to implement hybrid learning, more than half of the responses relayed that no, they would not. 

I talked with sophomore Klara Joffe interested in elaborating on some of her answers in the survey. She thinks that it will not be safe if we return to school. “Teenagers are irresponsible,” Joffe said. “Even over the summer, I would still hear parties happening” close to her house. Joffe believes that many factors arise with returning to school; transportation, crowded hallways, families inter-mixing. Even if we returned to school, there would be “too many students even when it is in the hybrid form.”

Joffe is not alone in her stance. Sophomore Shivam Gagad also believes that we should not return to school until scientists recommend returning to school. “If research says it is safe, then yes,” Gagad said. He hopes that most students would be smart enough to follow the guidelines; however, there will always be those who want to rebel against the guidelines. “I am somewhat in support of phase 2+,” Gagad said. He believes that it is nice to have some younger students return to school, but does not think we should move past phase 2+ too quickly.

Y’Jazzmin Christopher, freshmen, is well-experienced with online school with and without BVSD’s involvement. “I would be comfortable [returning to in-person learning,]” Christopher said. Christopher believes that Boulder High’s online school is better than full online not associated with BVSD, but is also much more rigorous. 

After talking to students and getting data from the survey, it appears that a majority of Boulder High Students are interested in returning to Boulder High. Still, it must be in a safe way that will not lead to an outbreak of COVID-19 in our schools or being sent home to return to online school only a month later.

To end this article, I wanted to remind you to continue following the proper COVID-19 guidelines. Socially distance yourself from others, always wear a mask in public, do not go to parties, concerts, rallies, etc. without a mask. The lives of loved ones and strangers are at risk and are equally important as your own, so treat them with respect and be safe.