Graphic by Julie Wang

Leah Blum
Features Section Editor

Despite the surge in COVID-19 cases across the school, Newton South, as well as other public schools in the state, have refrained from allowing students to have the option of remote learning. 

Students at South have expressed their concerns about the current situation, and many believe that having a remote option would benefit students and teachers who feel that their safety is at risk. 

However, even if the school wanted to transition to remote learning or at the very least provide the option to, the school would not be able to so as Governor Charlie Baker holds a firm position against a remote transition. 

With many students and teachers testing positive each week, students are faced with the challenge of making up missing work and are expected to be fully caught up when they return to school five days later.

“I know someone in my math class who had to miss a whole week of math classes, and therefore, they have to take an incomplete [grade] for the term,” said Newton South junior Lia Merkowitz. 

While some students have an easy time catching up on missing work, other students find it difficult to learn all of the material that they missed, causing them to feel overwhelmed and nervous about returning to school.

To fix this problem, students at South believe that a possible solution is to create a remote learning option for students to use if they test positive. 

Newton South sophomore Max Kamen supports this solution.

“A lot of people are getting sick and missing school, and it is really annoying to catch up on work. So the people who are sick should be able to go [online] so they do not stay behind,” Kamen said. 

Allowing students and teachers to do their work online will ensure that students who are well enough to do schoolwork can participate actively in class and remain caught up. This solution would hopefully relieve some of the stress that students and teachers experience when they test positive. 

“I think people who tested positive should get the opportunity to do remote learning because they are missing out on so much school,” Newton South junior Arshia Verma concluded.

Overall, many students at Newton South believe that a temporary online learning option would be beneficial for students and teachers who test positive so that they can continue with their normal lives when they return to school.