School Students | Pixabay
Maze Anderson, a 3rd grade student at Bronzeville Academy, and her mother Carmen, told the Suburban Marquee how happy they are that Maze is back in school this year.
After a year and a half of virtual learning due to COVID-19, students at Bronzeville Academy in Chicago, and schools across the state, have returned to traditional classrooms.
"It's amazing, and I always wanted to go back," Maze said about in-person learning.
Maze told the Suburban Marquee that although aspects of learning from home were fun, she "still wanted to go back at school." Her favorite part about being at school is learning math, but she is also excited about learning more English and science and looking forward to having a fun year.
As part of the effort to get students back into classrooms, Governor J.B. Pritzker required that all educators vaccinate against the coronavirus, stating the vaccine is "the best tool we have" against the Delta variant. Pritzker also mandated that all students and staff in K-12 schools, as well as early childhood development, must wear masks indoors at all times, regardless of vaccination status. Approximately 1.8 million Illinois children are under the age of 12, and therefore not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
Although school closures intended to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, critics wonder about the efficacy of the measure and worry about the unintended consequences.
A paper titled "Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza," from the Center for Biosecurity Disease, recounted that when schools in Chicago closed for a winter holiday during the 1918 influenza pandemic, "more influenza cases developed among pupils than when schools were in session." The author concluded that "to close schools...is not only impracticable but carries the possibility of a serious adverse outcome." School closures can result in interrupted learning, poor nutrition, confusion and additional stress for teachers, and social isolation, according to Unesco.
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