Amidst the Change

Amidst the Change
David RandolphWe are all aware of the ever-changing environment of school amidst the pandemic, and while things are starting to settle back into a familiar rhythm one thing has not changed: what we’ve missed. As the year wanes to an end, the dreaded state testing creeps up on students, but this year students have concerns surrounding these mandatory tests and how well they are going to perform due to the pandemic. One of Berne Unions’ own, David Randolph, took action with his concerns for not only his sake but for the sake of his fellow peers. Randolph took to the faculty and students, sharing his concerns as well as a petition to delay state testing so that students would have a fair chance at the mandatory tests. When asked what urged him to share his idea and petition Randolph stated that a number of his peers shared concerns over testing and not feeling prepared enough, along with the added stress of COVID-19. Randolph’s petition, which has been recognized by local news broadcasting stations, does not call for state tests to be canceled, merely postponed in order for students to catch up on their studies. David himself stated in our interview that just in his American History class they were five chapters behind due to the obstacles presented by COVID and the regulations that follow. Amongst the concern of doing poorly on state tests, students such as Randolph are concerned about how state testing performance will affect schools. Such as the possibility of increasing the school year to prevent future risk of poorly reflecting scores. Much like the times at hand, the future is uncertain, as of now there has been no further word on the progression of Randolph’s petition, but he has stated that he feels supported not only by his peers but the Berne Union faculty amidst his journey. With that, Randolph would like to share a final statement regarding the support he has received from faculty, “I must say I thank all the teachers for trying their best to get us as ready as we can possibly be for the state tests, and supporting me along the way as I made the petition”. The Orbital will continue to follow David’s progression and provide updates on the petition at hand.

By: Rachel Marshall