For the first time in 100 years, the entire world shut down一locking everyone into their homes and shutting down schools, restaurants, and shops. As we slowly return to normalcy, big decisions have to be made in order to keep the population safe. Our school, Roxbury High School, is one of many schools that have been shut down to some degree since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. At the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, Superintendent Loretta Radulic and the rest of the administration have been making decisions on whether to return to in-school learning and how we will continue to learn.

Going to school now is a new experience that will take some getting used to for students and staff一from wearing masks to shorter school days to classrooms filled at half capacity. The staff is trying their best to get our schedule as close to normal as we will get during this time. But so far, our school schedule has gone through multiple changes and will continue to change to ensure the safest and best learning experience. 

I personally had the pleasure of speaking with Superintendent Loretta Radulic to ask her input on the decisions she has had to make. When asked “what reasons have pushed you to open our schools back up?” Radulic stated “Students learn best in schools. In reviewing Roxbury data, conversations with local health officials, multiple meetings with various stakeholder groups, steps taken to ensure the health and safety of students and staff, we made the decision to re-open schools. It truly took a team effort. Teachers, students, our community, administration, and our Board of Education each played a role in the re-opening of schools. For me, personally, I was confident that we could do it safely. I continue to believe there’s no better place for our students to learn.” 

As students, we are doing what we can do to maintain in-person learning for as long as we can so we can keep learning to the best of our ability. To maintain this schedule, we have to pay attention to who we are hanging out with and how we are feeling. To understand how she decides to move onto phase 2 or to return to all virtual. When asked, “How will you determine to move to phase 2?” Radulick answered with, “Moving to Phase 2 at the high school will be determined based upon the health of the building.” Another question I asked about our schedule is, “What indicators would drive you to move back to all virtual?” Radulic’s answer was, “As always, transitioning to all virtual or Phase I and II are based on current health conditions.  For example, Franklin Elementary School has transitioned to all virtual for two weeks due to an “outbreak” (two or more linked cases) as defined by the Department of Health.” 

As the superintendent stated, Roxbury High School is the best place to be during this time So, as we head towards the latter end of our school year, we must continue practicing being safe and allow the staff to continue making decisions on how we move forward.