Ivanhoe Residents Respond to Going Back to School

By Emseralda Garcia, Ivanhoe Sol

Starting Thursday, March 25th, Ivanhoe students in grades 7th through 12 grade will have the opportunity to go back into in-person learning.

 Due to the progress made to increase vaccinations and create newer safety protocols, Tulare county is now in the “red tier” which allows students to go back to in-person learning. The tier system was developed in 2020 by the State of California in order to determine the permissible in-person activities while considering factors like Intensive Care Unit capacity, covid-related deaths, and overall positive cases in a county. While progress was made, the “red tier” is only the level immeadiately under the “purple tier” which is the most restrictive.

Visalia Unified School District recently approved plans for reopneing schools and each school has a plan for students who will be back on campus. Their plans consist of students always properly wearing a mask, remaining socially distanced and having a charged chrome book, ready to learn. 

Ivanhoe Community members were asked how they felt in regards to students returning to in person learning, here is how they responded.

Victoria 9th grade student at Golden West High School: 

“Personally I think it’s better to go to school in person. It’s a lot easier to ask for help. Through zoom I get really nervous. I don’t even like to turn my mic on. It’s so awkward but in person I feel like I could ask my teacher or another classmate for help. I know this will help my grades to improve.”

Kathia Haro, 7th grade student at Valley Oak Middle School:

“Online school is way harder than in person because of all the distractions at home. I feel very frustrated from how my grades have declined and how little teachers explain schoolwork. There’s almost no interaction between the students because chat is always off. I feel relieved to go back to school because there will be less of a distraction and I’ll be able to talk to people.”

Emily Hernandez ,11th grade student at Golden West High Shcool:

“During the pandemic in attending school on zoom took time for me to adjust. The reason I enjoy online learning is because of the opportunity to structure my day efficiently, it has helped me work at my own pace. I also had to think about my whole entire family’s health and the ones who have a compromised immune system like my grandparents”.

Parents Respond, Citing Lack Of Progress and Safety Of Family 

While some parents choose to have their children return to school, others choose to remain with distance learning. Here is what they shared:

Nadia Garcia, Parent and 7th- 12th grade Educator: “As a parent I chose distant learning for my kids because we have family that has a compromised immune system and we don’t want to take any risk I had to think about my whole entire family. It was challenging in the beginning having my kids on distance-learning but we have managed to make it work cohesively.  

Erika Ortiz, a parent, commented she will be keeping her students at home because she has a student that is very active and doesn’t feel he will be able to keep his mask on while at school. In addition, she also feels that there is still room for improvement on the number of cases so she rather keeps her students safe at home.

Whether parents choose to remain at distance learning or if they are comfortable in their students returning in person the unifying goal is to keep our community safe and healthy. 

Valley Oak Middle School’s Principal shared this message:

“I wanted to start by thanking the Valley Oak and Ivanhoe Families for their fantastic support over this pandemic school year.  I am particularly appreciative for everything that they have been doing to support the learning from home. The school has also received a number of messages of thanks and support from so many of you over this past year, and these messages were much appreciated. Thank you!”

“Valley Oak will be returning those students that their parents have selected to be In-Person starting this Thursday March 25, 2021. We will start school at 8:20am for those students that are AM and they get out at 11:02am. Our PM students will begin at 12:25pm and they get out at 3:07pm. Our whole school will be ready to welcome our students onto campus, and for our 7th graders, it will be the very first time that most of them will set foot on our campus!”

“We will have an Orientation Day on Wednesday March 24, 2021. This is where we will show the kids around campus so that they will know a little about our hallways and classrooms before Day #1. Here is the schedule for that:

• 7th Graders AM (8:45am – 9:45am)
• 8th Graders AM (10:30am – 11:30am)
• 7th Graders PM (12:30pm – 1:30pm)
• 8th Graders PM (2:30pm – 3:30pm)

“I want to let you know that we will continue to do what is best for all of our staff and our students! Take care of yourselves and your family.”

Respectively,

Mr. Garza

Principal of Valley Oak

The Ivanhoe Sol will continue to monitor students’ return to school in our upcoming editions. If you have any story suggestions or if you would like to report any concerns with the back-to-school process, please contact us at theivanhoesol@gmail.com.