After Mountain Vista High School returned to remote learning April 7 and Rocky Heights Middle School and Castle View High School made the switch yesterday, RCHS will also return to remote learning starting next Tuesday, April 13 through April 27. Monday, April 12 will be the last in-person school day.

PSAT and SAT testing will still occur next week as per the schedule that can be found here along with other information regarding the tests. Students taking these tests can park in the upper or lower parking lot without a parking pass. The school encourages that students obtain a negative Covid test before coming to school for standardized testing next week, but it is not required. In addition, students taking standardized tests at the school next week must complete a self-screening test before testing. This self-screening checks for symptoms and temperature. Students must also fill out a Google Form that will be sent to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors Monday, April 12.

The remote schedule will be the same as the most recent in-person schedule the school has had since returning from spring break March 22.

As for school-provided resources, buses and transportation will be available only during the mornings of testing days next week. Cafeteria and food services will not be available to students during the period of remote learning.

Prom is still scheduled to be held April 24 at The Main Event for seniors only; however, in order to attend, students must either receive a negative Covid test within 72 hours of the event, be fully vaccinated, or have tested positive for Covid within the last 90 days and have finished their isolation period and not be experiencing any symptoms.

The decision to go remote was made because the school is now under a state of “uncontrolled transmission”, where more than one student in a classroom has tested positive. Following Tri-County Health Department guidelines, upwards of 200 students from the school have been quarantined.

“This is heartbreaking for our staff and students,” Principal Andy Abner said. “…We will do our best to get through the next two weeks allowing us to finish the year together and celebrate our students as best as possible.”

Students’ Thoughts

Wendy Werner ‘22: “I was very frustrated! It was extremely difficult the first time when it was completely remote. It’s a whole lot harder to stay motivated and to get help from teachers.”

Arianna Sanchez ‘21: “To be honest, I don’t know everything going on behind the scenes, but nonetheless, it’s disappointing. The class of 2021’s senior year has already been hard enough, having only been in school for three weeks. My senior year high school soccer season was also supposed to start up in a couple weeks, but there’s no plan set for how that’ll look. I know RC has a lot of fun stuff planned for the seniors, though, and I’m excited to make some memories doing those.”

Riley Lanziner ‘23: “Sure, I understand why we are going fully remote and obviously it is important for the health and safety of the students and staff; however, knowing after spring break that there would possibly be a spike, I believe that it should have been planned around, such as going online or at least hybrid the first two weeks after spring break to help prevent or slow spreading of Covid. For many students going full online is very difficult, especially around finals and testing.”

Chris Mason ‘21: “I am honestly a bit disappointed purely for the fact that people complain about this sort of thing when it can be easily prevented if we all stuck together through the pandemic, hopefully with the vaccine we will be able to have a normal freshman college year.”

Avery Cutone ’23: “I was honestly expecting it. I was just disappointed to go back because I got back into the swing of things and then I am forced to go back online again. Also I realize that it was needed, because the last day before [we found out we were going] remote, most of my classes were only half full, with the other half online. I think that students will be less outgoing and feel isolated when [we] go back online. I think this could negatively affect [our] mental health, but I hope that the full remote schedule is only two weeks so that students can return to an all in-person schedule and be surrounded by their classmates and teachers.”

Sophie Shadid ‘21: “When I first heard we were going back full in person after spring break after half the school had been traveling, I think a lot of us were a little apprehensive about it. I don’t know if it’s coming as a big shock to a lot of people especially after [Mountain Vista going remote]. I’ve just been getting back into my routine. It’s nice to be in-person– it’s a lot easier to learn. Hopefully the two weeks can pass quickly and we can have a good prom… Hopefully we’ll get to graduate in-person by the end. I think that a lot of students are going to have to be self motivated now more than ever because AP testing is the most rigorous study period of the year, and so are finals, so this critical period that we have is going to be online… I think it’s going to really negatively affect mental health if it lasts more than two weeks.”