During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers dramatically reduced the workload and difficulty of classes to support mental health. Now they are trying to bring curriculum back to pre-COVID levels.

Colleen Williams-Freier, a RAHS biology teacher, says that during trimester 1, about ⅔ of the pre-COVID workload was assigned. She said she hopes to be using 100% of the old curriculum by the start of the 2023-24 school year.

Williams-Freier said, “It’s a slow process as all of us have to relearn our previous work habits and rebuild stamina that was lost” about increasing the work load.

Another RAHS teacher told us a similar thing. They said that in trimester 1, 70-90% of the pre-COVID curriculum was used, varying from class to class. They are also hoping to be back to the full curriculum starting next school year.

Sophomore Selah Sedlacek, when asked about if the increase in work is at all stressful said that, for her it increases stress about school. She also said that having more work makes it difficult to get everything done on time.

After almost trhee years of reduced school work, teachers are transitioning back to their old curriculums. Getting used having  more work can be difficult and stressful for some teachers and students but it will get easier as everyone adjusts. It looks like the next school year will look like the ones before the COVID-19 pandemic lightened workload and rigor at school.