With the Plainfield School District beginning the year remotely and many questions left unanswered, students turned to the administration hoping for guidance but were not met with such. 

As juniors applied for Dual Credit classes through JJC there was a lack of communication regarding how to obtain the student ID, the deadline to apply for the ID, the deadline to apply for the placement exams. Many students were not aware that there was a deadline to register for the exam and therefore missed their opportunity to take the exam at Plainfield South (students can still take it at JJC). In fact the only information received was after the deadline when the school announced that registration was closed.

On the other hand, there has been confusion and questions about returning back to school in hybrid. One concern that students have had is that their laptop’s battery might die during instruction time and they will not be allowed to charge their device in class. 

Additionally, teachers have also not been equipped with the answers to these questions either which leaves the student body looking to their counselors for advice and answers but are met with nonanswers if any. 

For example, some students have emailed their counselor with a question just to receive an auto response saying they had an influx of emails and would get back soon, the same information given in the email blast (copied and pasted), or no response at all. 

It is understandable that counselors and other administrators could be stressed and overwhelmed by the current circumstances but so are the students, especially when expected to gather all information, previously obtained by the administration, on their own.

The reality is that although nobody truly knows what’s going on in terms of the pandemic and school reopening, the administration still needs to communicate important information to the student body.