Story by: Jonathan Weed

COVID-19 has spared very little in the daily life of students, teachers, and parents. Like so many, they face this pandemic head-on, learning and adapting to their roles in this scary, unfamiliar environment.

Elementary school teacher Loran Rigdon teaches third grade. She, along with so many other teachers, see the effect the pandemic has on their students. They count the days that they can see their students smiling faces that are now under a mask.

“The mood can be somber,” Loran states, “because they are not allowed to interact with their peers like they once were.” Ms. Rigdon says fun activities like lunch with a buddy or trading food in the cafeteria are all things of the past for now.

Teachers are not the only ones searching for normalcy in the classroom. Students, even at the elementary level, stress how they miss something as small as group projects.

Talon Woodall, a third-grader, states, “I miss whenever we get in groups we can’t do that anymore, and that was a huge part of school. We can’t do that anymore because of COVID.”

Hearing that, one can get a tiny glimpse of the many things that teachers and students give up every day for the sake of safety. Safety should be the top priority for schools that is unquestionable. Yet, one should also look into what is given up for that safety and its effects.

Parents may not be at the school or taking the classes, but they certainly feel how school life affects their children. Many even take on the added role of teaching while working, parenting, and being a spouse.

Tiffany Long, a parent to an elementary child at Helena Elementary, spoke on the struggles of teaching her child back in March of 2020. “It was such a struggle for her to do it (schoolwork). We were arguing about it every day. It was kind of a nightmare.”

The teacher, student, and parent all discussed is that even if the school is very different in this pandemic, we need students to be there. All pointed out that students learn more in the classroom than remotely.

Safety is always the top concern, as they all pointed out. The reality is school life in the pandemic, as changed as it may be, they have all pointed out that if they can safely stay in school and want to be in school.

With the COVID-19 vaccine awaiting approval as of December 9, 2020, perhaps school life in the not-so-distance future can again have the reality of being somewhat normal again. With students, teachers, and parents alike getting out of this pandemic stronger than ever before.