These N.L. teens are now out of school. And they don't want to go back any time soon

A sense of relief washed over Ella Niblock upon hearing the news that her high school was closed due to COVID-19.

"As much as I love the social aspects of everything — and I'm involved in multiple things at the school and extracurricular activities — like, some things are just not worth the risk of it," said Ella, a Grade 11 student at Holy Spirit High in Conception Bay South.

Ella is one of the more than 7,100 students now at home, as the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District has suspended classes at 12 of its schools in the St. John's area for at least Tuesday and Wednesday in the wake of two students testing positive at Mount Pearl Senior High on the weekend. Three other schools in the metro area outside the NLESD's jurisdiction have also followed suit.

As relieved as Ella was, she wasn't surprised by the closure. She has multiple friends in isolation at the moment, having been identified as close contacts, she said, with anxiety and stress for them and for herself building, and hard to keep at bay.

"You're just waiting for the call. Like you never know if you're going to be the next one, and it feels like you're walking on thin ice," she said.

Ella knows what's at stake. Her grandmother tested positive for COVID-19 in the spring, after travelling home from Florida, an experience that has stuck with her long after her grandmother's recovery. She's been following the public health guidelines, she said, but simply being at school makes that practically impossible.

"It's hard to keep your bubble to 20 people when they're going to school with like 600 people," she said, adding that there has also been a lot of overlap between high schools via activities like sports teams. 

Online learning welcomed

Teachers and staff at all affected NLESD schools — save Mount Pearl Senior High, where everyone remains in isolation — reported to work Tuesday to begin preparations for a potential move to online learning, although no guidelines on if or when that could happen have been made public.

Ella said she would welcome a temporary move to learning from home.

"I think the teachers will know how to make it work, and I have belief in all the teachers," she said.

Abby Mitchell, a Grade 12 student at Holy Spirit, also wants to see a shift to online learning. It may be at a crucial point of studies for her, in the final months of her final year, but she believes the plans the district has made so far for this possibility will work. 

I don't think that's an unreasonable ask, to be protected.- Sarah Healey

"I think that as a province, we're in this together, and we're actually ahead of other provinces in the country. So I think we're going to be OK. I fully trust my teachers," said Abby, who is also the school's student council president.

Both Abby and Ella are set up with their own personal laptops and devices to be able to pivot to online classes, but they know of other students who aren't so fortunate.

"I know it's definitely a stress factor," said Abby. "We were told we were all going to have Chromebooks at the start of the year, and we're in the second semester now, and very few of us have actually received that."

The CEO of the NLESD, Tony Stack, said Tuesday there has been a delay in getting Chromebooks to the province due to a worldwide shortage but students who need technology have been identified and tech solutions found.

Keep schools closed, say students

On Tuesday, public health confirmed community transmission is occurring in the St. John's area, as 30 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the province: all in the Eastern Health region, with 14 of them under the age of 19. No new school cases were identified outside Mount Pearl Senior, said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald.

She did not say if the current school closures would be extended, but said public health and the school district are working closely together, as other community restrictions outside classrooms have come into effect for two weeks.

"As the information changes, we may have to change our response with that, but we are trying to reduce spread through the community. If we keep our community safe, we can keep our schools safe," Fitzgerald said.

The idea of a return to school sooner than two weeks — the incubation period of the virus — doesn't sit well with Gonzaga High Grade 10 student Kaitlin Healey.

"I think it was smart of them to close the high schools, but I feel like everything should be closed for a 14-day period … at minimum," Kaitlin said.

"I don't think that's an unreasonable ask, to be protected," said her sister Sarah Healey, in Grade 11.

All the students CBC News spoke to urged public health officials to not rush back to school. Kaitlin said it comes down to safety: she knows first-hand what it feels like to be in a crowded classroom where other students have their masks pushed down past their noses or chins.

"I don't feel safe going into a classroom with like 30 to 40 other children, and about 20 to 30 the kids aren't wearing their masks properly," she said.

Balancing those physical risks are mental ones. 

"It's very difficult to deal with the last-minute snap of things," said Sarah, of the consecutive late-night closure announcements from the school district.

The teenagers are gifted with technological literacy, and are using it to their advantage amid the uncertainty to try to take care of themselves, and their friends. Abby said she's been FaceTiming her best friend constantly, while Ella said she's also keeping up contacts, but trying to avoid negativity online. 

Her advice for getting through it works for any age.

"I'm trying to stay away from sources I don't know, and just take it day by day and listen to all the health professionals," Ella said.

She hopes the health professionals are listening to students like her, and what they hope to see in the coming days: staying home, with their families.

"I just think that being in school right now is just one of the worst possible things, because every couple of minutes someone else is texting, being like, 'I have to isolate,'" said Ella.

"If we were all in school right now, we'd have so many more cases."

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