In addition to dealing with contact tracing as a result of a holiday surge in Covid cases, a petition is circulating among community members dealing with the question of virtual learning.  

CHS Student Kylie Ray started a petition named “CONWAY SCHOOLS GOING VIRTUAL.” The petition is a call for action to get the school to lockdown and go virtual and not come back. The petition had gathered nearly 200 signatures as of mid day January 19. The signatures continue to rise, as do the cases and quarantines. According to the Conway Public School District website, the current amount of students quarantined is 350 students in the school district. The amount of staff quarantined currently is up to 17. That’s 17 empty spots of classes that need a substitute to watch over them. As for active covid cases in the district, there are 179 students with Covid-19. 

The rise has also contributed much conversation among students about what is best in terms of learning.  Abigail Lewis, a sophomore at Conway High says, “I think it is the right thing to do. Most kids it’s hard to keep switching back and forth between in school and online. I think it would be best for us to go online the rest of the school year and be in school Mondays and Wednesdays.” The spread of the new variant has students, staff, and parents extremely worried about not only the education of their students, but more importantly the safety.