As alarms go off at nine instead of six in the morning, students experience school at home, surrounded by family, pets and all the comforts and dysfunctions of being at home.
On Thursday, March 12, Superintendent Kevin Skelly announced the closure of the San Mateo Union High School District, triggering a variety of reactions from Aragon’s community. Some students were more than willing to join other districts whose schools already closed, while their fellow classmates felt anxious about their homespace abruptly becoming their schoolspace.
Additionally, the “shelter in place” mandate restricts the majority of family members to the walls of their homes.
For freshman Shreya Arjun, having members of the family together for every hour has exacerbated stress levels.
“We were all pretty stressed [about the closure] … and then my mom started stressing about chores. … The tension starts to build up because we have so much time to worry. Before, we were preoccupied with work or school, so now it’s definitely more stressful,” Arjun said.
The closure has also raised concerns from Arjun’s father, who she lives with every other week as her parents are divorced. She still switches between the households, but her parents have not discussed guidelines with each other.
“My dad definitely has some [stress], [saying things like,] ‘make sure you’re not going anywhere, you’re trying to keep minimum contact from outsiders as much as you can,’ but he doesn’t really have control over that while I’m with my mom,” said Arjun.
Despite the stress and tension, Arjun finds a silver lining.
“Honestly, for me [switching between households] is refreshing. I get to see new faces and it’s a different environment [every week],” said Arjun.
Meanwhile for senior Alexia Alvarez who is currently in a relationship and can’t see her significant other often due to the social distancing orders, she is finding ways to manage with the situation. Also leaving for college in the fall, Alvarez uses Facetime calls to make up for the lost time.
“Yes we have [been following the quarantine rules of social distancing], the few times we have seen each other we make sure we are six feet apart and wearing face masks to ensure our safety… I just hope everything gets better so we can enjoy summer before we go off to college” Alvarez said.
Due to inevitable conflicts that arise from working, learning and living in the same place and the same time, Laura Anthony’s article for abc7 news “Coronavirus Impact: 6 Bay Area school districts extend temporary closures into May” interviewed online teaching expert Kara Gardner who recommends family members find their own work space during remote learning and working from home.
For English and Creative Writing teacher Genevieve Thurtle, sharing the home space with her husband, Robert Thurtle, another teacher at Aragon, and her son, a student at Aragon, has been a learning experience.
“We have a two bedroom house and we love it, but we don’t have a lot of room to spread out,” Thurtle said. “We talked about how this is putting unusual pressure on all of us, as a family and individually, so we’re all trying to be mindful of being considerate with each other, making sure that … we’re mindful of each other’s spaces and time.”
Not expecting to be back home so soon, college freshman and Aragon alumnus Danny Williams had a two days notice before learning he would be returning home after his last final. Williams’ mother who works in the Emergency Medicine department at Stanford Hospital and gave Williams first-hand insight on the war with COVID-19. Dr. Williams follows precautions in her own home by using separate silverware and keeping to her own space.
“She got a little lonely for a while because she had to stay in her room because we couldn’t be near her, but we’ve gotten her to come out and she’s in the living room again with all of us,” Williams said.
Even though society is showing support for healthcare workers who are fighting on the front lines of this pandemic, Williams shared a different angle of how someone wearing scrubs can be conveyed as threatening. Dr. Williams’ friend wore her hospital scrubs into a Safeway before her shift was kicked out because she was working in a hospital and in close proximity with the virus.
“It’s a social outcasting of doctors at everything,” said Williams.
With students being at home, some parents expect them to take on more responsibilities than their usual ones to assist with the new situation.
For sophomore Courtney Tai, having a younger sister in third grade and an older sister who is a freshman in college, the task of taking care of each other is present but not a tremendous burden on the family. Tai and her older sister have the responsibility of watching their younger sister when their parents are working. However, the job of teaching Tai’s younger sister is an extra job for Tai’s mom to do.
“[My mom] is taking some college courses right now to become a nurse, but on top of that she has to help my little sister because she doesn’t know how to do everything on her own. So it’s a lot more stressful for her because she has to do both her own and my sister’s learning,” Tai said.
English and AVID teacher Tiffany Chiaro took maternity leave during the first semester of the 2020 school year and with the school closure, she feels her time at school this year was cut shorter than anticipated.
With the shelter in place order, Chiaro gets to spend more time with her son, but she does acknowledge the lack of distinction between her two roles of being a mother and teacher.
“At times, school has been a break from being a mother, and now I can’t take off the mother hat,” Chiaro said.
Before the school closure and shelter in place, Chiaro had plans to see her family members over spring break which were cancelled.
“I was supposed to see my parents this weekend and [go] down to southern California for spring break to see my extended family. Knowing that we can’t see each other, that my parents can’t hold their grandson, and can’t see him grow up, hurts my heart,” said Chiaro.
The diverse family dynamics that arise from COVID-19 push the Aragon community to reflect on this unique time in history. Despite the challenges of social distancing and the school closure, some families found a silver lining.
“I absolutely do think [COVID-19] brought us closer together, I can’t imagine trying to get through this without my family here,” said Thurtle.
