As Coronavirus spreads like wildfire around the world, so does conversation. Many students are wondering how it will affect the end of the school year at Frederick High School. Class trips through the month of April have been canceled throughout the district, including the Disney Trip for the FHS music department. With the virus closing in on schools, online education, grades, and graduation are all at the top of people’s lists when it comes to wanting answers. How long will things be postponed? How will grades work? Will there be a graduation ceremony? The Frederick Scout staff went on the hunt to find some answers.

Assistant Principal, Doug Jackson, was able to provide some possible scenarios if the virus creeps closer to our district:

“To be honest, we don’t have a solid plan as of right now. Mr. Young, the rest of the administrative team, and myself, would have to get together and figure out a plan that is most fair to students.” With this affecting the second semester, it’s really important to most students that they would be able to continue their education without it meaning a longer school year. For senior students, many of them may be concerned for their final months at the school and how this could be heavily changed due to safety concerns.

We then asked for elaboration on what the plan might potentially look like in his professional opinion. Mr. Jackson provided us with a variety of different options that could happen.

“One of the options could include freezing current grades and students ending up with what they currently have.”

Being mid-semester, most students’ grades don’t reflect their fullest potential in the classroom with midterms and tests adding up, making this a riskier option for students’ GPAs. Many kids comment on how they try and save their grades at the last minute, which could further prove why this would be the most preferred route. However, Jackson then reassured us that this is not the top option.

“Because of the iPads and some of the platforms we have such as Schoology or Google Drive, you know, case by case, it’s possible that some form of instruction could continue digitally. However, that is going to vary a lot depending on the class- it would work for U.S. History, but it wouldn’t necessarily work for Game-On or other PE classes.” Many students taking more ‘hands-on’ learning courses would be affected by not going to school, but it’s agreed that student safety is the top priority.

Obviously, everyone will have to adapt to any scenario we are given.

He then stated, “One thing I can promise is that students won’t be penalized for this. That is a high priority for us, especially for seniors. They’re thinking about their GPA and their next steps. Overall, whatever we do will be fair to students.”

Senior and editor of The Frederick Scout, Ella Berrend, then asked further: “Do you have any idea about what would happen to our graduation ceremony?”

Mr. Jackson was honest in his response: “It would honestly depend on the policy that the district made. We would have to follow that over anything else. If they decide to cancel all school gatherings or activities, we would have to abide by that decision. It would really just depend on the language of the policy, whatever that ends up being.” He then added, “I could see them deciding school every day is too risky, but maybe a one-day event wouldn’t hurt, or they may just decide to not risk anything at all. It could go both ways, but that is up to the district.” Many school districts across the country have canceled school gatherings due to the rapid increase of the virus, so the idea of hundreds of family members being together in close quarters presents a problem that needs to be solved.

With the weight of coronavirus being so unexpected, not a lot of people have solid answers as to what the future will hold in terms of school or larger events like graduation, but it will be a group effort by the district to provide the best outcome for everybody involved.