I know my family wasn’t the only one in Frisco to get whiplash from all the changing plans. 

Everyone’s going to do virtual learning. Actually wait, it’s a hybrid learning. Wait, no, nevermind, you can choose now. However, not all of your classes are available online, if that’s what you want. Okay, now they are. We’re going to do this, no actually we’re going to do that, actually, no this is what we’re doing. 

It was pretty exhausting. 

Now, I understand completely that much of this was out of the district’s hand and that they had to make plans based on the constantly changing information. Given the circumstances, FISD somehow managed to give us a solution that (almost) everyone was okay with: an option to either choose 100% virtual or 100% in-person learning. 

My family and I chose to do virtual learning, which I felt was the best option for me for a variety of reasons. 

My biggest concern when choosing between virtual and face to face learning, and quite frankly, every decision regarding increased exposure in the last six months, is the fact that I live with my grandmother, who is very high risk. Since the first lockdown order was implemented my family has been only going out for necessities, always wearing a mask, and leaving all non-essential shopping for online. 

When thinking about going back to school, I just couldn’t think of a way to be completely sure that I wasn’t going to bring home the virus to my grandmother. Even though everyone would be wearing masks, and social distancing would be enforced, I knew there were certain places that maintaining a six feet distance wouldn’t be possible. 

Additionally, most of my classes are much more conducive to a virtual environment, considering that I am taking mostly Humanities and history courses. Since I wasn’t in more hands-on classes like sciences that would require labs or art classes that would require painting and sculpting, I knew it’d be much easier for my schedule to transfer to a virtual setting. 

While I miss my friends and my teachers immensely, I know that this was the right choice for me. Every student had to make the right decision for their family and their circumstances, and the only wrong choice is to shame someone else’s. Everybody has their own situations and issues they need to consider, and those circumstances might not be apparent to a third party.