The Bernards Township School District decided that all schools will enact a full-day schedule beginning on May 3rd, 2021. Our learning during Covid-19 has been a bit behind schedule, and we believe implementing full-day school for this upcoming marking period is not the most optimal solution. Students are already experiencing stress, confusion, anxiety, low self-esteem, disconnection, depression, and excessive amounts of screen time. All of which directly impacts our mental and physical health. The purpose of this petition is to express our views on this upcoming change and why we believe there should not be an implementation of a full school day schedule into our learning system this school year.

One of the main reasons is the time students would need to spend on their computer screens daily. Students are already stressed and tired after attending virtual classes with the current abbreviated schedule. Therefore, it would be counterintuitive to increase the number of classes and shorten breaks between those classes (ex-only 4 minutes of break for all students). With the current schedule, we are already stepping far over this line, as stated before that increasing screen time would not be logical nor healthy to any degree for both the teachers and the students, especially for children under 12. Furthermore, speaking with fellow students we heard about a plethora of complaints about eye soreness, headaches, and fatigue from spending hours on their computers for school, not to mention how most extracurriculars and personal events still take place online. Then all of the problems only get worse when it’s the end of the day and people find it difficult sleeping due to over exposure to blue light, causing a decrease in melatonin, which is the hormone that regulates when one sleeps and wakes up. To conclude, since our schools do not have the capacity to welcome all of their students back, some students have to stay as virtual students, thus the expectation of attending 7 continuous hours of virtual instruction daily is unrealistic.

Given a full schedule, some students will have to eat in the school building, possibly not under the protection of vaccines, thus further endangering our community with more COVID cases. Firstly, there are still a good number of people that have not taken the vaccine or are not done with their vaccine process. According to the NJ Government, up until April 14th, only 2.2 million adults are fully vaccinated. The 2.2 mil data includes the elderly and medical professionals that need the vaccine the most, so that leaves only a small portion of students from 16-18 (keep in mind NJ’s population is 8.8 million) that are vaccinated by this point. Because many students are fully vaccinated, and vaccines would only come into full immunity 2 weeks after the 2nd dose (CDC). Therefore, people who have not been fully vaccinated by April 19th technically are not safe by May 3rd, when they choose to return to school. Furthermore, children 15 and under are not eligible for the vaccine, as they don’t have the protection of the vaccine in the first place. The full schedule comes with eating lunch indoors, so kids are even more likely to get COVID-19, being forced to remove their masks, regardless of the social distancing or not. Also, longer school days increase the number of bathroom and water breaks, thus there would be an increased risk of air contact and actual skin contact, making school buildings an uncomfortable environment. We understand the Board of Education wants to set a schedule that resembles the normal schedule, making it an easier shift for the new school semester this September. Though we have this in mind, the concern arises at the fact that our schools will also be shifting to the block schedule in the next school year. The end goal is not necessarily achieved as the district will return to a “normal” schedule for 30 school days, yet everyone needs to adjust to a brand new schedule in September. The fact that this is not a state mandate (Governor Murphy only required a return to in-person school in September) continues to support the argument. The desired effects of the decision-makers are not met, and there have already been prolonged damages on the student body from virtual learning. Not to mention the fear and paranoia resulting from students’ concern of safety in-person add to the pandemic stress and mental health. There are limited positive outcomes, and the cons distinctively outweigh the pros. The decision only heightens the troubles that virtual learning brings us since March 15th of 2020. 

In summation, reverting to “traditional times” is going to be detrimental to our health. Enforcing a full day schedule on the students and faculty only provokes more obstacles for all. The teachers cannot teach at their orderly level and the students will only find it more agonizing to learn. Lengthening the time that everyone has to spend in front of a screen every single day will result in one thing: complete exhaustion mentally and physically. We believe the learning system that has been implemented in marking periods 1, 2, and 3 is the optimal solution for everyone, which we have already accustomed to. The cohort schedule allows students to grasp and digest information better; shorting classes and having longer school days will make it more tiring and difficult to understand such topics. Students continue to experience high-stress levels from their Covid affected lives and academics, unreasonable amounts of screen time, uneasiness concerning Covid-19, and personal problems as well, full school days will only snowball into a tenser learning environment.