Topeka High is undergoing a new change allowing students to come back to school full time. The school district believes that it’s safe to bring kids back to school because most of the staff have gotten vaccinated.

“We wanted to be able to do that as soon as we felt it was safe to do so. So the answer right now is because we’ve gotten staff vaccinated, So the adults in the buildings are safe,” said Rebecca Morrisey principal of Topeka High.

But even though most students are allowed to come back to school in person some students are still online. Morrisey said she’s putting students on a waiting list to be able to come back to school due to not having enough space for them in their classrooms, so it doesn’t lead to overcrowding.

Morrisey said she’d still like to maintain 6 feet of space if possible but the requirement is now 3 feet. She wants to be able to maintain that if she can for the safety of the staff and students.

Coming back to school may be great to some people but others disagree.

More than 50 students responded to an newspaper survey about their feelings about coming back to school.

Some believe that this should have waited until next year while others believe that the sooner the better.

“I prefer the hybrid schedule because it allowed us to be in school and also go home to work rather than have limited work time in the classroom,” said Jude Stueven, a junior.

Other students see the advantages of being in person.

“I would rather be in person because it’s either to talk to the teacher and show them your work if you are struggling with something and you have classmates to help you as well,” said Trista Davis, a sophomore.

Things around Topeka High have been a little chaotic for a lot of people because of the big change. B group students had to start getting up earlier than they’re used to and all students have to start attending school for eight hours a day, including those at home on Zoom.

“I’d rather be online, but not all day, my eyes burn from looking at the screen for too long and I would much rather have school start at 12:00 to get some more sleep because I have trouble sleeping at night,” said Janette Lopez-Sanchez, a junior.

Some students are having trouble adapting to the full eight hours though. Some students have jobs and a family they have to take care of so going back to school now for eight hours is hard on students who have a lot going on.

“I’m exhausted and I don’t think it’s good for all students. We had a system that worked with hybrid so students could work half day and go to school half day to provide for their families in this time of need, and now that’s no longer an option. And considering most students don’t even have one dose of the vaccine, it seems like a bad idea,” said McCall Beall, a freshman at Topeka High.

On the other hand lots of students are also being affected by the waiting list to get back into school. Online learners are saying they would rather be in person because it’s hard to focus a full eight hours on the computer and there are lots of distractions. Online students say that they wish they were in person because it would be easier .

“I’d rather be In person, because the teachers aren’t giving online students as much one on one as you would get in person mainly because they’re trying to teach two classes,” said Anastaisa Meador, a junior at Topeka High school.