Starting on July 27th, the Olathe School District has been sending out constantly changing information regarding the 2020 school year. Families would receive multiple emails a week and sometimes even on the same day about new changes. Students and parents have expressed worries over the constant change of schedules and the safety of the students and teachers as the district moves to a hybrid schedule for secondary education.

“I felt like I wasn’t aware of a lot of things that were happening,” sophomore Gabi Aleman explained.

This past year has been challenging for schools with COVID-19 cases on the rise. But did the school district also have a sizable impact on student stress levels? In short, yes.

“Schools always stressful for me, but it was a little more than usual just because I was so unaware of what was going to happen,” sophomore Meirah Paul said.

 Not knowing the details of upcoming events that were relevant caused anxiety in students and parents in our district. So many things were uncertain about school this year. Would the format be online, hybrid, or in person? What would the schedule be? What about sports, band, and choir? These are the questions that plagued the minds of many students and parents in our district. While it’s easy to blame the school district, a sophomore from Olathe East reminds us that the effects of the coronavirus are hard on everyone. 

“I feel like the district is doing the best they can at the moment with all of the adaptations being made,” says Drew Strathman. 

The details concerning the first day of school were also vague. Schedules only came out the weekend before and were subject to change even after that. 

“I knew what my schedule was, but I was really confused about how all my classes would fit together,” Aleman said. 

The new block schedule was confusing to understand as it was different from any other schedule used previously. With no foreseeable end in sight to this arrangement, this cycle will likely continue regardless of COVID-19  cases and numbers.

“I think that the district’s done an inadequate job of communicating, to be honest. The district was super sneaky… teachers and parents should have known weeks before,” summarizes sophomore Vin Parazin.