By Kiley Lachance

A return to normal next school year is what rising-seniors at Cony High School are hoping for the most, but current safety guidelines make it physically impossible for students to return to the classroom full-time, said Principal Kim Silsby.

The Maine CDC has released guidelines for schools to follow to prevent the spread of Covid-19, a respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. With a large student body, Silsby said in order to follow these guidelines, Cony High School is currently physically unable to go back to school full-time.

Six feet of distance between people is recommended for common areas and when masks are not being worn. Younger children, including high school students, are less likely to get severely sick from the virus and are allowed to be placed up to 3-feet away from each other, rather than 6 feet. But the Maine CDC is still recommending 6-feet of distance between adults and students, according to a press release by the Maine Department of Education on March 19.

Emma Crosby, a junior who is currently attending class online, is looking forward to her senior year and hopes that she will be able to attend in-person. She said she feels that she has missed opportunities this year due to the hybrid system.

“I had always envisioned my senior year to be the best one out of all,” Crosby said.

The thought of her senior year happening in a hybrid model makes her sad, Crosby said. While she is cautious of a possible outbreak of COVID-19 at the school, she said she wants to be in-person during her senior year.

Keyanna Moore, another junior at Cony, said being outside the classroom made it harder to learn this year.

“I don’t like being online, I feel that it’s easier for me to learn in-person and would really like to go full-time with no online school at all,” Moore said.

Multiple students said they have missed and are looking forward to the most next school year is the opportunity to interact and connect with others.

“What I miss the most about school before it shifted to being hybrid/online was the interactions I had with teachers and my personal friends,” Crosby said.

Another junior, Emma Shaw, said she thinks the hybrid system is inconvenient and hard to follow. She would prefer to go back to school full-time, even if that requires having to wear a mask.

“Although wearing a mask stinks, it’d be worth it to be back in school full time. But as senior year is approaching, I would no longer like to continue the hybrid model and instead go full-time,” Shaw said.

The Board of Education for the Augusta School System held a workshop to consider multiple plans for reopening the area's schools on April 7. Leadership from each school presented the options for transitioning more students to in-person instruction and the difficulties for implementing each plan. The board voted unanimously not to change the teaching model this school year.

While nothing is set to change this year, there is no information yet on what is to occur next year.