Bend La-Pine high schooler voices frustration with return-to-class options
Summit student wants to continue distance learning, but with classmates
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- With Bend-La Pine kindergarten through third-graders back in class this week and high school students set to return in February, a Summit High School student contacted NewsChannel 21 to say she's among those feeling frustrated by the options offered in the reopening plans.
Summit junior Gretchen Marx said Wednesday she's upset that if she opts to keep taking classes at home, she will have to change classes from the ones she's currently taking.
"So if you choose either the new district Comprehensive Distance Learning, or CDL, or you choose to go fully online, you're no longer going to be able to stay in all your teachers' classes that you already have been taking for the entire year," Marx said. "Even if they're a year-long class, you're going to be forced into a new class with a new teacher and new classmates."
Marx said she wants to see a different model .
"Teachers will bring the people that want to return in person, they can go in person, and those us who don't want to switch to the new options can stay with our school -- for me, it's Summit High School," she explained. "Through a teacher live-streaming or webbed, setting up a Webex or a Zoom in their classroom, so we can join in while the in-person learners are there, too."
Marx said she believes the systems are already in place to do that.
"When students have to quarantine because of that, or for other reasons, they're going to be using Webex in classrooms anyways," she said. "So that the students who want to quarantine can still be connected to their teachers, if they are doing hybrid."
"So it feels like they should be leaving it as an option for those of us who don't feel comfortable going in-person just yet."
Nearly 800 students in the district have opted for CDL. As for high schoolers, the school district says only about 100 out of 5,000 have decided to stay online.
The district says those that do will have access to an advisory teacher daily, who will provide support and meet with them regularly.
In a statement to NewsChannel 21, the district wrote:
"We encourage students who do not wish to return for in-person learning, but who would like to stay connected with their individual school, to reach out. We want to do our best to help students stay connected and feel supported."
