There is no doubt that school is taking more dedication than ever under the circumstances with the blended schedule. Students are struggling with the balance of school and their personal life. While teachers are also stressed with the workload they have taken on while balancing between the two schedules.

English teacher, Beth Lewis, said she doesn’t love the blended schedule, but says it has its perks.

“At first, it was the most stressful part of my career. Fortunately, the stress has declined, and I use running as a way to help with stress.” Lewis said.

As teachers keep working to help students grasp as much knowledge as they can, assistant superintendent Dr. Angela Grunewald thinks that it isn’t 100 percent possible for students to receive the same amount of education compared to a five days a week schedule. 

“Students are also learning skills they would not have learned before such as self-discipline, planning out their own day, etc” Grunewald said.

Memorial senior, Lily Hunt, took the approach that students are not going to over work themselves at home with school work, but she says there is a fine line between spending too much time on school work and learning the materials at home. 

 “We’re in the middle of a pandemic and trying to learn calculus and complex controversies and wars and writing essays, and there’s just no good way to do that at home by ourselves,” Hunt said. 

The at home time expectations from the school district are 45 minutes for core classes and 30 minutes for elective classes. Hunt says she doesn’t have much English work, so she has more time to spend on her AP courses. 

Hunt and Grunewald agreed that the core curriculum should override the time being spent on elective class work. On the other hand, Lewis says each class is important because all of the classes may help in the future.

As bad as the blended schedule may be for the educational side of school, it has had its advantages, such as smaller classes and more time and flexibility for students to do their work. 

For the people who are ready for the blended schedule to be over and students go back to five days a week, Grunewald said the only possibility for that is if Edmond is in the yellow (low-risk phase) for two or three weeks. Since there isn’t much that can be done right now, besides continuing to take safety precautions, everyone can try to enjoy this crazy lifestyle that the world has adapted to.

Contact Hailey Paddock at [email protected]