By Anneliese Duong and Samson Le
The Huntington Beach Union High School District recently announced plans for beginning in-person instruction for Hybrid students.
Students and staff will return to school on Nov. 3 and will have to work together to ensure each other’s safety, such as by practicing social distancing and wearing masks.
Here’s what a few students and teachers have to say.
All photos are provided.
“I’m taking hybrid. I like how there’s different teams so [not all hybrid students] would be at school the same days. [With the circumstances], clubs can have meetings outside and assemblies can be shown in class,” freshman Vanessa Le said. 
“I’m taking virtual classes because my mom is a first responder and is anxious of the virus being spread by students. Even though I’m going to school virtually, I believe that the school’s in person hybrid instruction will be cautious of the student’s safety. The school has ensured the safety of my friends attending in-person by guaranteeing masks being worn, social distancing etc. I think activities, assemblies and sports will be done safely. The school has already taken a tremendous step forward with the online instruction. I’m hopeful that things will turn around and allow [students] to resume school normally,” sophomore Sophia Ton said. 
“I [chose to do] virtual! I feel unready to return back to school as of now because things are still very unclear with the health guidelines. To go more in depth, there is no vaccine yet and there’s a chance that people who recovered from COVID-19 can get it again. Also, because my grandma lives with me, I would feel guilty if I went back and potentially [put her at a higher risk for the virus]. However, I do understand why people want to go back to school especially if their environment at home is keeping them from learning efficiently. I still think activities will primarily be done online due to the fact that large crowds are still not regulated by CDC guidelines,” senior Christy Chau said.
“I’m taking hybrid. I think I’m not ready to return back to school mainly because the situation we are in right now might get worse. I think our activities that are [in-person] will require a lot of enforced rules on social distancing and maintaining sanitation while the activities that are virtual will remain the same,” freshman Maxx Ngo said. 
“I’m doing hybrid. Having only half of the school going and the other half staying at home makes me feel a lot safer. I was worried that the hallways were going to be super crowded like always [and thus pretty much a breeding ground for COVID-19], but I feel like having half of the students there will make it a lot less hectic and will protect us more. But the thought of having an online dance or assembly just feels way too weird for me to picture it,” senior Avery Austin said. 
“I am taking hybrid. What makes me feel safe is knowing I finally have a chance to see my friends again. The school is taking its precautions, but I’ve never felt unsafe going out somewhere while COVID-19 was around. I believe activities will not be as good as they were last year. I’ve received little information on what clubs will be doing [as well as] sports activities, so I could only assume they won’t be happening, or they will be extremely restricted,” junior Shane Hill said.
“I am currently enrolled in the hybrid [model]. Multiple things make me feel safe returning to school, one of these reasons being the new improved schedule and grouping of students. Knowing that there will be less contact between teachers and students with reduced periods of learning will help ease the mind of both parents and students. It has been made clear that the school is concerned about our safety. Personally, I have been well updated on the guidelines and procedures taken in order for us to return to school [and] knowing the number of people infected by COVID-19 has decreased is comforting. However, there are still many [issues we] will not know until Nov. 3. Overall, I believe the school is ready to reopen for in-person instruction. With the activities, large events may be hard to coordinate since calling services like Zoom or Google Meets can’t accommodate all students at FVHS at once. [But,] clubs have already taken a great initiative by updating students through social media when their clubs meet online,” sophomore Melody Hom said. 
“Unfortunately, we are still awaiting further directions from district leaders regarding what everything will look like when we return to campus. What I do know is that desks will be spaced six feet apart and that cleaning items will be available. As far as the lessons go, it will be challenging to find ways to keep both the students in the classroom and those following along at home simultaneously engaged. As always, I will do my very best to connect with my students and keep them engaged with meaningful learning opportunities, but it is hard to say exactly what that will be like while teaching hybrid and virtual students at the same time,” Spanish teacher Jim Diecidue said. 
“For traffic control in and out of the classroom, I am going to use one door for entrance only and the other for exit only. Once students are in the classroom, every student is going to have an empty seat left, right, front and back. I believe this will allow students to be apart at least six feet away from each other at any given time. Science teachers have lab tables and a teacher’s demonstration table on top of the student tables. It will be impossible to clean all those tables by myself with just seven minutes of passing period while I have to prepare for the next class or use the restroom. I cannot force students to clean the tables but I will recommend so. If students would like to clean any surface, I will supply cleaning materials to students that I got from the district. [With the hybrid model], I do not know exactly what my class is going to look like. I have been overwhelmed the past few weeks converting my offline lessons into online lessons, and I am still struggling with that process. Once we are in the hybrid model, it is going to present a new challenge to me because I need to find out how to perform a laboratory experiment with half of the class physically in the classroom while the other half is online,” chemistry teacher Jake Lee said.
This article was updated on Oct. 6 correct the spelling of a student’s name.
