Recently, Warren County Public Schools completed two weeks of NTI due to snow. We had so much snow, that the district “ran out” of snow days. Over this time, there have been some effects on students, much like the COVID-19 lockdown in 2019, but a whole lot less. I interviewed someone from every grade in high school to find out if the amount of NTI days had a large effect on them.
The NTI first of all had an effect on a student’s personal schedule, with the first class of the day starting at 9:00 am and the last ending at 12:30 pm. As Katie Miller (senior) said, “It helped my schedule a lot, it let me get up way later and stay up until like 2:00 am.” She sounded and looked very proud when saying that.
The NTI started on Tuesday, with Monday begging designated a regular snow day. Once the NTI started, Mason Jones (junior) stated, “I had some trouble adjusting on the first day, but then my teacher said we didn’t have to get on the meet if we didn’t want to.” However, the other three students that were interviewed all said, to some extent, that they had a routine because they had done it before. Like the regular schedule, students’ sleep schedules were also affected during this time, with three out of the four students saying that it improved sleep and energy. However, Parker Mackey (freshman) said, “It helped sleep, improved energy, but it definitely cut off learning time.”
During the two weeks of NTI, some students reported that the workload during the two weeks was about the same, if not less stressful. As Jones said, “I think it was the same. The same stuff they would’ve given us in class.” However, the workload really depends on what teacher you have, but in the end, it’s all still work.
Stress was also a factor during this time. Some students were quite stressed out when waiting for the NTI text, where the district would say if there was another NTI day or not. Some said it was because they wanted NTI a lot, but by the end, they wanted human interaction and wanted to go back to school. Jones even said, “I think the day we went back to school was the happiest I had been in a while because I hadn’t talked to another person other than over the phone.”
When asked if the amount of NTI days should have stayed the same, been shorter, or lasted longer, three out of the four students said it should have been shorter, with one saying it should have stayed the same because it was a good amount of time. Miller stated, “It should have stayed the same, it was a good amount of time.” That being said, all of the other students interviewed were tired of the length and just wanted human interaction.
Towards the end of the NTI period, the work hardly slowed down, because the teachers always had something. The level of isolation is almost comparable to the COVID-19 lockdown, because most could not leave their homes due to ice. With Eva Croslyn (sophomore), Mackey, and Jones all saying that the isolation was a big reason as to why they wanted the time to be shorter.
The real effect that NTI had on the students is that it put them behind in their classes. It is simple. If you’re at home, with less class time, and less or the same amount of work (really dependent on the class), you’re going to fall a bit behind.
