By Michael Farricielli, Kyle Givner and Dylan Torre
Throughout the last couple of years the students at Branford High School have had an anything but easy time adjusting, from schedule changes, season cancellations, and classroom disruptions thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students and staff have seen many changes with student behavior and actions in the last school year. They said the pandemic has greatly affected the BHS community.
“Kids that normally wouldn’t be a problem are acting out, more are skipping, vaping, as a panic outlet. Kids are walking the halls for hours just wandering,” said BHS security guard Ken Jacovino. “Social media also has a huge impact on how kids act nowadays.
As the security Guard, Jacovino sees a lot of things and social interactions that many students and some teachers might not notice when just walking in the hall. He has seen how students have grown and changed from the pandemic not just in the classroom but when they think no one is watching.
Mr. Briganti said he has seen similar trends. “The one thing that I noticed is the amount of difficulty that kids have to go to class”. However, security, faculty, and staff don’t see what the students can see,“ Briganti said. “The Freshman class has also had some difficulty this year and COVID is the blame for that.”
Guidance counselor Aimee Bonn Harkins has also seen the same difficulties with the freshman class, the class of 2025.
“Some ninth graders are doing awesome,” she said. “But that class as a whole is at a real disadvantage because of COVID-19 and distance learning. Sixth grade was their only normal year.”
She, along with many other faculty members believe that it has been a very hard year for most freshmen to adapt to in person learning. They were behind a screen but not actually taking in the information they have been taught.
“I feel like students have lost the ability to communicate in person,” said Megan Heath, a special education teacher. Many students are not socially aware of what is going on in school because they have missed out on so much, she said.
Heath said she doesn’t know if the incoming freshmen are prepared for high school. “If anything, the incoming ninth graders are less prepared for their high school experience.” Compared to the current seniors when they were freshman, “[this year’s ninth graders] missed so many learning experiences that were built into middle school. Because of COVID their only normal year was sixth grade.”
Melissa Simone, a social worker at Branford High School explains that the pandemic has significantly impacted students’ motivation and ability to sit still in a classroom, especially with the longer block periods.
“It’s harder for them to not be on their phones,” Simone said. When the new cell phone policy started students were even worse because they wanted to be on their phone even more.
Simone adds that “student coping skills have decreased and their ability to tolerate distress has decreased.”
During distance learning students could be on their phones, listen to music, and even cheat on tests or quizzes because of their phone.
Kids as a whole, have said they also are seeing the difficulties with the changes the last few years have brought about because of the pandemic. The norm of staying in your house every day and being planted in front of a screen for hours changed the normal aspect of school for students which affected many students.
“School has become numb and boring to me,” senior Nina Shamas said.”I used to be excited about coming to school.”
Branford High school has had an emotional and mental shift as a whole. Some students have been greatly affected by this shift.
“It has affected my social awareness and I felt lonely and isolated all the time,” Junior Bryanna Lye said.
This new adjustment for the Branford High School community has been tough but our students have been handling it as best as they can. In addition with no mask mandate for schools, this has been helping mental and social awareness throughout the school.
Editor's Note: Pamela Anderson contributed to this report.
