The Prowl

The Student News Site of Weston Ranch High School

The Prowl

The Prowl

Students Set to Return to Campus April 26

Beginning Monday, April 26, all students will attend school in person. WRHS students will attend classes Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 am until 3:10 pm. Wednesdays will continue to be distance learning days.

Referring to this as Phase 3.0, students will see a few changes to the bell schedule. Classes for on-campus learning will move from 70 minutes to 77 minutes, while the Late Start Wednesday class will reduce in minutes from 70 to 60 minutes in duration. Another change in the daily schedule will be lunchtime. The new plan includes two lunch periods, and the students will be assigned to one of the two lunches depending on the location of their third-period class. Students will be notified which lunch they have starting on Thursday, April 22.

“Two lunch periods will help mitigate student crowding and student contact,” said Mr. Fast, WRHS’s principal.

April 26 is the day students have been waiting for since this pandemic began last March and for most of this school year. WRHS will have all students returning to campus on this proposed date, and there will be no call to divide students into groups A and B. Students will return four days a week. With this, can this be proven to be a good or bad thing for our school? The initial belief is this will be good for our school in many ways.

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It will be good for students to return. It will be suitable for students who have not possibly seen some of their classmates in a year, giving them another sense of everyday living while still in this pandemic. Also, students will get to know the campus once again, a positive thing for rebuilding campus community and campus spirit.

Another pro to all return to school is for a lot of the freshman. It will be good for first-year students to be on a fully populated high school campus. It will be a good experience for them as they have never witnessed it before and meet new and other newcomers that they will possibly be in school with for the next four years of their lives.

However, there still could be some issues. One issue which could not sit well with students is the time of release. The new time for the end of school will now be at 3:10. While the increase in minutes for each period is not clearly defined and why the end of school time will be pushed back, it is clear that MUSD sees the need to meet the students’ needs. Perhaps the increase in minutes might be an attempt to close some learning gaps left open while students were on distance learning schedules. It’s only for the final month, so students will need to follow the plan and trust the people making the decisions. However, on the upside, it’s not as bad as next year potentially is shaking out. A potential schedule for next year may see students released at 4 pm.

Considering the pros and cons, returning all students to campus will have a significant upside on April 26.  After a year long wait, it should be a welcome change and a chance at getting back to normal.

The Prowl has attached the following bell schedules as announced by MUSD and WRHS.

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Students Set to Return to Campus April 26