Walker started his senior year of high school at Signature School on Wednesday (but I was remiss in taking the traditional first day of school photos).
Walker’s school is set to provide both online and virtual learning. Families were given the opportunity to elect and required to commit to a nine week stint. We all felt like it would be best for Walker to be at school with his teachers.
Some people have asked me what Bill’s take is on this situation. He believes that there is tremendous benefit in the structure of going to school every day, in the social skills of interacting with peers and teachers, and in having a teacher in person who can notice the subtle error in an assignment rather than a student getting frustrated and then having to emailing the teacher for help.
There is some risk, though, to older staff or kids who live with or have lots of contact with older people and caretakers. Of course, a few kids might get really sick.
There is no clear, easy right answer as to what to do. While we might reduce who is sick by having all learning be virtual for a year, there is a good number of kids (5-10%) who will never catch up from the year of not learning.
We will hope that Walker is able to stay safe at school and experience as much of a traditional senior year as he can.
Congrats to Walker on the start of his Senior year! Make the best of it!! Our kids too are doing the hybrid model.