Cactus Shadows needs to be shut down for the near future because of the threat of the Omicron variant’s potential impact on students and staff members. Increased cases will not only put the students and faculty in danger but it will also affect the comprehension of the students who are in quarantine. They will be expected to catch up on all of the work that they missed in a relatively short time. This could affect the grades and mental state of the students because quarantine lasts two weeks and in that time students will most likely have to make up at least one test for each of their six classes.
This has the potential to put students under an extreme amount of stress to try to get their grades back up and complete their assignments in the allotted time. According to the CDC it takes about 30 minutes for the transmission of the Omicron and that is with protective face coverings on. That means if you sat next to someone in your class that was infected, you would be infected because class periods last 60 mins.
The Omicron variant is the easiest to contract and schools are the best breeding ground for this deadly virus. With the lack of vaccinated students and the elimination of the mask mandate, the Omicron variant has the potential to be catastrophic to the already shaky structure of the American school system. With the well being of students and teachers in mind, the administration needs to make the decision to send us back to hybrid home learning.
The tweaks that I suggest the administration should make to home learning is to first, get rid of mandatory Zoom sessions that encourage students to act out because they do not like it. Second, the administration needs to make it so all assignments are only on Google Classroom alone, not Google Classroom in addition to Canvas, preventing students from being confused with managing two interfaces.
With these minor tweaks to the online school system, students will be more likely to succeed in online school.
With this deadly variant going around, the best way students can continue to learn is the hybrid learning platform.
The risk that the school district continues to take is unacceptable with the potential of loss of life because of the Omicron variant. The school needs to take the rational and safe option and shut down schools and return to home school.

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