This year has brought a lot of changes. Recently, falling positivity rates, new CDC guidelines, and increased vaccine eligibility have begged the question: What will next year look like?

Many have viewed this year as an opportunity to reassess the status quo, as the world was changed and what was normal was thrown out. As Parker moves into next year, there remains the question of the Coronavirus: Will next year be normal? “Really the question becomes are we hybrid or fully in person,” Middle and Upper School Director of Studies Sven Carlsson said, “I think a lot of that decision is going to be made this June and July, however I definitely don’t see us going back everything the same as it was pre-pandemic.”

The medical subcommittee, which was established in mid-2020 works to help advise the school on how to act during COVID-19, believes the school will be able to return to relative normalcy next year. “I mean it could be normal.” Parker parent and physician at Northwestern Eric Ternman said. “It depends on what the numbers do, we don’t have to worry about cohorts or masks or anything like that if there aren’t cases in Illinois.” 

The pandemic has forced many to rethink what they had been doing for years. “During this year I have realized that I need to meet students where they’re at rather than expecting them to be somewhere they’re not.” eighth grade English teacher and team leader David Fuder said. 

Throughout this year, MX’s, along with many other non academic activities, has been sacrificed for time, however are likely to come back next year. “Another thing is not having MX like we have some questions on when MX is going to be, there has been some changes,” Carlsson said.

This year has also allowed for a change in how we think about the pressures of school. “We included breaks, we included tutorial more than one time a week,” Fuder said.  “We wanted to alleviate some of the strain on being in person all day and then going home with the additional hours of schoolwork, so we were trying to be sensitive to that and we hope to keep some of that next year and beyond.”

With next year also comes new leadership throughout the school. The new upper school principal will be coming in at a time when students have been through an upheaval, and he wants to listen. “Ultimately what I want to do is I just want to listen, if you want to talk to me, come talk to me I’ll hear you out, by all means, let’s have a conversation,” Incoming Upper School Head Christopher Arnold said. “How can I help you, or how can I manage your expectations in the right way, so I really just want to roll up my sleeves and get in there with students to see what I can do to be helpful.”

This year has been a disruption to how the world operates, and next year will likely return to a sense of normalcy.  However many believe one must not forget the lessons learned during COVID-19. “We need to work together to make sure we not only go back to the same old same old,” Carlsson said, “but that we actually learn from what happened.”