On October 5, the ASD board of directors made the final decision that students will be returning back to school in a hybrid form starting October 26. The lack of communication with the students about the new form of school became a concern as parents and staff had information on the topic and students did not until recently.

When decisions like this are made, the board puts together a public meeting in which any member of the public can come in and speak on the topic at hand. Usually, students are not represented in these types of conversations or meetings because they are not directly informed about them. Students don’t get emails or any information at all about board meetings and what goes on with the school in general. They could get information, but students are not directly contacted about the meetings.

The decision to bring students back to school was made on the 5th of October, and most parents and faculty knew this decision was made, but students were not informed about this decision or given any information about how it will work until October 12 and 13. Eric Phillips, a freshman at AHS, feels as though students should have been informed about the board meeting.

“It would’ve been great if we were informed about the board meeting because I think having a student voice in there would’ve been beneficial to how the decision was made,” Phillips said.

There were a few emails sent out to students on the 12th and 13th of October giving them information on cohorts and what the new hybrid schedule is going to look like. Prior to the emails, students had minimal information about the schedule, and only knew what was going on because of what teachers or parents were telling them. Laila Khan-Farooqi, a junior at AHS and a student senate member, wishes students would’ve gotten more information about the schedule and how things are going to work earlier.

“Especially as a student senate member, I feel as though the hybrid schedule should have been more thoroughly discussed with the student body as this change affects us greatly and we didn’t receive any information until recently,” Khan-Farooqi said.

Overall, a lot of the student body finds this change more frustrating and confusing because they weren’t aware of how the hybrid schedule was going to work until recently. Katie Dangler, a junior at AHS, believes that this transition to hybrid would’ve been much more trouble-free if students knew what was coming their way earlier.

“Not knowing anything about the schedule for going back to school is making it more stressful to go back, more than it would be normally. This is already going to be a different school year, so it would have made it easier knowing more about the schedule,” Dangler said.