The Prep News sent out a survey last Friday, Aug. 28 asking students about their satisfaction with distance learning and confidence in Saint Louis U. High’s safety programs as we return to school in person on Sept. 10.

Two hundred fifty-five people responded to the survey: 69 freshmen, 53 sophomores, 49 juniors, 52 seniors, and 32 faculty/staff. Each respondee was asked how they would rate their satisfaction with the current distance learning schedule, how they would compare the current system with last year’s system, and how safe they feel coming back to SLUH in the coming weeks. In addition to the required multiple-choice questions, those who filled out the survey had the opportunity to indicate if they were willing to answer follow-up questions.

It is important to note that the results of the poll may not reflect the views of the school as a whole. Despite nearly a quarter of the school responding, there is an inherent bias that comes with emailing a poll because people with stronger opinions may be more inclined to respond to the email. The official numbers will be posted at the bottom of the article, but they can only be used to reflect the views of the 255 people who responded, not the school population.

Just over three quarters of the respondents reported that they were at least moderately satisfied with the way distance learning is being handled at SLUH, 58.8 percent saying that the current system is better than last year’s with an additional 24.3 percent stating that it’s on par with last year’s system.

“The student to teacher relationship is given the needed elements to flourish, as much as one can during this time,” said senior Bernie Kilcullen in a follow-up interview. “Although we cannot hear the antebellum music blaring from Mr. McCarthy’s room as we leave the chapel on a Wednesday morning, we the students are still able to foster the relationships with our teachers over Zoom.”

“By having students attend class at a specific time, whilst also having us show our faces via camera, students are much more attentive to the classes they take,” said Sam Zychinski.

Both social studies teacher Tim O’Neil and foreign language teacher Magdalena Alvarado agree that more time is needed in order to effectively assess the current schedule, citing it as a generally good experience so far.

“This will only get better as time goes on with virtual learning because we have to remember that we have only been doing this for a week,” said O’Neil. “As teachers gain more experience with the tools we have in virtual learning, our creativity and personalities will begin to come through stronger. Keep in mind that we are still at the beginning of the year, where most teachers are introducing a lot of basics to their courses right now and this leads to a higher percentage of direct instruction and less student interaction.”

“It's too early to say whether the current system of distance learning is working or not,” said Alvarado. “The way I see it, we are in the process of reinventing education, of creating new styles of teaching and learning for the 21st century. This is a work in progress and it will require a lot of trial and error before we get it right. Although this is a huge challenge, it is an even greater opportunity. We just need to be patient, keep an open mind, and help one another.”

Even though he’s satisfied with the way distance learning is being handled, senior Ruben Sharp does not approve of how the school is approaching in-person learning.

“I think that it’s redundant to send us to school for three days and then distance for two,” said Ruben. “If we want to place socializing and comfort above health, then fine, let’s go back to school five days a week. You can’t have one or the other. This compromise in our current setup is just a waste. I appreciate the option to stay home full time if we want to, but in my opinion it ought to be mandatory until our rates drop beneath 5 percent.”

In regards to safety, over 90 percent of respondents answered that they at least feel moderately safe returning to school for in-person classes, with 48.6 percent saying they feel completely safe. 

Freshman Drew Kapsak“I think having masks will make everybody feel a lot more comfortable, and having only a certain amount of students on campus I think will make it easy to spread out and distance,” said junior George Henken.

“I feel safe returning to SLUH because they are installing the new ventilation system, and they will take many precautions such as wearing masks, social distancing, hand sanitizing, and temperature taking,” said freshman Drew Kapsak.

Despite the precautions SLUH is taking, Alvarado, O’Neil, and Sharp feel that it is unsafe to be returning to school when there are so many people in the St. Louis area who have contracted the virus.

“I feel unsafe because of the lack of testing in this country,” said Alvarado. “I live in a zip code where cases have been high and could be an asymptomatic carrier of the virus, but there is no way of knowing. No amount of leadership at the school level can make up for the lack of leadership at the state and federal levels.”

“I feel unsafe about returning to SLUH because it is unsafe, but I am not fearful of going to school because I think I can maintain the protocols necessary,” said O’Neil. “Over the past six months, we understand clearly that indoor spaces with larger groups of people are unsafe. We also know that virus cases have been going up with high school students even before school started. I don't think there is much more the school could do to make the building more secure, except keep everyone at home. That is the only truly safe way for school to happen until a vaccine.”

“I feel unsafe because I’ve been watching my classmates violate most state guidelines to hang out with each other all summer long,” said Sharp. “I do not trust the student body to uphold the basic standards we need to set in order to keep the virus from spreading. Until there is a real end in sight to the pandemic I don’t feel that it’s worth going back to school.”

Both Alvarado and O’Neil expressed concern in how the school is handling things and in teaching students in-person despite the risk of catching COVID.

“What worries me is teaching in a hybrid environment as it will increase both the amount of multitasking I must do and the risk of catching the virus,” said Alvarado. “My hope is that being ‘in person’ with my students (masks and social distancing notwithstanding) will make it all worthwhile.”

“The unfortunate reality throughout this pandemic is that SLUH, like all schools, have been given very poor options because of behaviors by the community,” said O’Neil. “As much as we would like to have school be safe for everyone, we cannot guarantee this no matter what changes SLUH makes because we have no evidence that our community (locally or regionally) can maintain the vigilance of health care professionals to wear masks, hand wash frequently, and maintain social distance.”

For now, SLUH will be continuing with its current plan for both distance learning and in-person learning with possible changes to come as the administration observes the effectiveness of the system over time.

The official numbers from the poll are as follows: 

–Concerning satisfaction with distance-learning: 9 people reported low satisfaction, 53 people reported moderately low satisfaction, 161 reported moderately high satisfaction, 23 reported high satisfaction;

–Concerning satisfaction in comparison to last year: 43 reported this year being worse, 62 reported this year being the same, 150 reported this year being better; 

–Concerning student safety in regards to in-person learning: 5 reported feeling completely unsafe, 19 reported feeling moderately unsafe, 107 reported feeling moderately safe, and 124 reported feeling completely safe.

Graphs courtesy of Kate Hannick.