On March 1, The Jemicy School once again returned to an 8-3 school day with four longer classes. Sports and theater startup after spring break and the Jemicy staff is almost completely vaccinated. Things are starting to return to normal but with this newest set of announcements comes a new set of questions. I recently sat down with Head of School Ben Shifrin to discuss the new changes for the spring.
The first thing we talked about was the vaccine. All but a handful of the Jemicy staff is vaccinated with both of the dosses. I asked Shifrin how he was able to get dosses for all of the staff so quickly? “The governor had teachers as priority 1b, so once 1b was available I got all of my staff signed up for both shots,” said Shifrin.
On the days when the teachers were out getting the vaccines, the school had asynchronous classes, meaning classwork was posted on the Jemicy website and students were required to complete that work at home. But because of these days off-campus for vaccine shots, two days were taken off the Thursday and Friday of spring break. Shifrin stated that these were late additions to the calendar and were justifiably removed.
“At the beginning of the school year we added two days to our spring break but because of the two asynchronous days we took them out.”
From March until spring break, Jemicy students have four, 80 min classes, with dismissal for sophomores through USP starting at 3:00. This has caused quite a level of discontent among the students. I asked Mr. Shifrin about the benefits of having 80 minutes of the same four classes when a large part of the school has ADD or ADHD.
Shifrin stated that, “the biggest concern is people moving throughout the hallways. That is where COVID is most likely to spread.” The idea behind four instead of seven or eight classes is that there is less transitioning from one room to another. That’s why Jemicy and other schools moved to the longer class, less movement structure.
“The four classes are long. I don’t mind just having four of them, but we could break them up by shortening the clases or having a study hall in the middle of the day as well as at the end. Just a way to break up the monotony,” said Ally Anderson Mayo ‘23.
Even with all of the staff getting vaccines, is it still too much of a risk to add more classes?
“Yes,” said Shifrin. “We don’t want the students to get the virus.”
Still, many students and parents alike can’t wait until we have more classes per day.
“It’s too soon to make that call. The PTA [Parent Teacher Association] is always talking about that but we don’t know,”said Shifrin.
However, some students do not mind the current schedule.
“I’d rather they don’t change it right now,” said Sophomore Class President Judy Gibson. “They can change it next year. It’s too late in the year to make drastic changes.”
Jemicy has proved that schools can open full-time in a safe manner. But not all schools in Maryland, or across the country for the matter, are even open for any in-person instruction.
“I think that it is a shame. We have proven that schools are not dangerous and the only people that have got COVID [here on campus] got it outside of Jemicy,” said Shifrin. “Not having school just hurts the kids.”
There is a push from Student Body President Katie Wendler ‘22 to start having more traditional events as well.
“The SGA is pushing for prom at the end of the year because it’s important for the morale and well-being of many students.”
And what about the chances for an all-school trip abroad next school year?
“I don’t want to make any promises but we are looking at the travel bans and hoping for next year, if not then the year after. We are also thinking about going somewhere closer than Vietnam,” said Shifrin.
The school year is starting to seem a bit more normal now and as the temperatures start to rise, the Jemicy community is thankful that we are on campus and in the classroom.
MOOSE PRINTS 