Your Take: Back to school amid COVID-19

(FOX 2) - In this episode of Your Take, we talk with FOX 2 viewers about heading back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A mother of college students, a student at MSU, a Cass Tech student, a seventh-grader and the assistant superintendent of Novi Community Schools - all five have a unique perspective as we get "Your Take" on going back to school this fall. 

"We try to put a strong face on for our family and our kids and sometimes you just have to go on the corner and cry and get it all out," said Suzanne Crawford. She's a mom to MSU students who's glad we are all having this talk together. Her son Zach is an incoming sophomore. 

"It's kind of been, it's felt very uncertain. I will always remember where I was when I found out the university was going remote because, the shock of just having that plug pulled," he said. 

Then there's Ely, a Cass Tech High student who was given the choice to go back to in-person learning or stay home. She stayed home, a choice that was easy for her to make after she came down with COVID and so did her mother. 

"My mother ended up being bedridden for two or three weeks. But towards the end, she took medicine and she did get tested and she tested positive but she ended up getting better and recovering herself. I myself had some symptoms but also recovered fully because I wasn't affected as much because of my age," she said.

Matthew Vogel is a 7th grader at Notre Dame Preparatory Middle in Pontiac. The 12-year-old is confident about his safety at school. In fact, he's been back in class for weeks. 

"You also have to wear a mask unless you're 6 feet apart from all people. Then you can take off your mask and breathe for a little bit," he said.

And finally, Dr. R.J. Weber is the father of a 10-year-old who attends Novi Schools, where he also is the assistant superintendent. 

"Our schools are our second homes. Our students at our schools are at second homes, and on March 12 the front doors to those houses shut," he said. 

We spoke with all five to get their take on going back to school amid the pandemic. They're five takes on a subject that affects everyone differently.

"It was very personal [choice] because her mother is the only adult in the house, and we wouldn't know what to really do if anything were to happen to her again. As I said, we have the opportunity to learn online so it wasn't as hard of a choice as other families," said Ely. "More people being in small spaces. Adults don't know youth. Youth will not follow these rules. And I know that for a fact."

But for Matthew, the rules as he hits the halls daily are everywhere. 

"When you walk in, they take your temperature and they make sure you haven't had any symptoms of COVID. And I'm glad very glad that they do that," he said. "If you're right here and your classroom is here, and the line goes this way, you go this way. You cannot just walk over to here. This is so people don't bump into other people in the hallway."

"Comparing the difficulty the different people had isn't going to help anything but coming together and acknowledging the fact that we need to very honestly attend to what people have been through in the past six months is going to be critical not only for our emotional well-being but our physical well-being," said Dr. Webber.

"They were going to go back with COVID kits with a thermometer, they can monitor their temperatures daily. And then again like I said take the precautionary steps so I had no issues with that, I trust them," says Suzanne.

But for Ely, who is glad she is staying home, the emotional effects of isolation were real. She is giving thanks to two nonprofits she volunteered with this summer for keeping her afloat in Detroit.

"If it wasn't for those organizations, I would be in a very bad mental health place right now because they provided the support I needed and the resources that I needed in order to be OK," she said. 

Watch for future episodes of Your Take on FOX 2 News.