PRHS students and staff buckle down as the first four weeks of online education wrap up.

Remote online learning is finishing five weeks which has students and teachers dealing with policy changes and attendance complications for the four weeks that remain.

On Mon. Mar 30, PRHS’s remote teaching program took its first steps and making sure to have a stable internet connection, students and teachers alike embark on this new cyber journey in the comfort of their own homes. Following the announcement of school closure PRHS students and teachers had two weeks to gather resources for the continuation of school during these unprecedented times.

The switch to digital hasn’t exactly been abrupt, teachers have been utilizing chrome books and online assignments for a few years now. This is a situation that has launched with a minimal amount of face-time, meaningful work, or feedback from students based on comments from teachers and a Crimson Newsmagazine survey of 270 students.

PRHS students spend a majority of 5 hours a day doing online study as found in the survey, which also presented how difficult students found different subjects.

Teachers assign their coursework using online platforms, majorly Google Classroom and through there students can turn in assignments and correspond with their peers. Students also use social media to converse with each other for help or feedback.

“I have been using private comments to tell my teachers that I have gotten [assignments] done and turned in,” Senior Cameron Nicholson said. “I have been using my phones messages and Snapchat to talk to people because I have some friends in my classes. I have just been using my chromebook and my opinion on this system is that it’s going fairly well so far,” Nicholson stated.

Yet throughout the first week, over 700 Bearcats had not responded to assignments in one or two of their courses. CTE teachers reported an estimated 5 percent of their students responding to assignments, the rest establishing minimal to no contact.

After remodeling the rest of the year's lesson plans to adapt their material to fit an online structure, teachers are now dealing with unmotivated students.

“In some districts the problem is just getting kids to show up,” and participate in online learning, a phenomenon that is true nationwide according to an article by The Washington Post, including PRHS.

“It is the best of a really terrible situation,” Marine Bio and Science Academy 1 teacher Ms. Lincoln said. “However, it is hard on students, parents, and teachers. I know that learning isn't going to be as great with this system and the human component of teaching is absolutely gone,” she added.

Without the daily interaction of school life, Lincoln misses, “routine, the ability to see my students face to face and smile at them, and actually teaching.”

Senior Alexa Angeles also finds herself missing the socialization from campus life. “I miss having lunch with my friends and getting to see their beautiful smiles every day,” she said.

The setbacks have been minor in Angeles’ case. “It was hard to get everything done at first. I was always behind in one subject. But I think that the system is probably the best our school could have possibly done.”

Admin are directing teachers to make adjustments to grading and required to take attendance every Friday which is gathered when a student turns in at least one assignment.

As for other school related activities, Sophomore Charlotte Castelli says she misses track and field the most. Students are prohibited from engaging in extracurricular activities associated with the high school. With that means senior nights are lost and the motivation that comes with group activities is gone as social distancing is called for.

Teachers say they are aware they may have to adjust expectations and minutes per week. Final exams are predicted to be waived, simplified, or prohibited, according to several teachers.

Online education is off to a rocky start, but as these new routines are being shaped, staff and students are making the best of an ill situation (no pun intended).