As Pascack Hills enters a new school year fully in-person, the question of whether or not remote learning should still be offered as an alternative still haunts students and teachers alike. 

Governor Murphy, on May 17, 2021, announced that for the 2021-2022 school year, all districts in New Jersey were required to open full-time with purely in-person teaching, regardless of whether students were vaccinated or not. This eliminated the option for remote learning, where students would log onto Google Meet, Zoom, or similar platforms from the comfort of their own homes to participate in class. However, these new regulations were under one condition- that the students would be required to wear masks for the duration of the school day. This was frowned upon by many, while others were eager to go to school in whatever capacity they were able to.

Journalism teacher Ms. Vani Apanosian speaks upon teaching in the virtual setting. “Given the circumstances, we did the best we could. But, I do enjoy being back in-person, engaging with the students in a way I wasn’t able to last year. I can now teach more interactive lessons that spark curiosity and therefore, go into more detail,” Apanosian explains. She highlights that while she didn’t believe virtual learning was exactly ineffective, it created teaching boundaries that caused almost all teachers to narrow down their curriculum and pick and choose the most important topics. “In terms of mask regulations, students and teachers alike are doing pretty good to follow all safety precautions, and I hope everyone at Hills continues to do so.”

Hills Senior John Pieratos also shares his opinion on remote learning. As a 3-year varsity football player and boys lacrosse player in the spring sports season, Pieratos found it safer to participate in remote learning during his sports seasons. “[Learning remotely] is the safer option to protect all in-season athletes and avoid the risk of potentially shutting down the team,” he notes.

However, in accordance with the PVRSD Board of Education, the rule is that if a student or teacher is in contact with someone who tests positive for Covid-19, and is vaccinated and proceeds to test negative, then that person is not required to be quarantined. Yet, regardless of testing positive or negative, an unvaccinated person in contact must quarantine.

Walking through the halls of Pascack Hills, many will notice students wandering and trying to keep their eyes open from a lack of sleep due to the fact that no one has attended school for over four hours since March 2020. However, it is a large step in the right direction to transition into a full in-person school day again and overall promote normalcy.