APPLETON, Wis. — Appleton is one of many school districts in northeast Wisconsin that started the 2020-2021 school year virtually.
Seven months later, Emily Voight is about to have both of her kids back in the classroom five days a week.
"Rollercoaster is definitely the word I would use to describe this past year," Voight said when reflecting on the year it has been since coronavirus was declared a pandemic.
Voight's two sons, Sean and Cullen, go to Johnston Elementary. They are both on the autism spectrum. Because Sean is non-verbal and was able to be learn in-person earlier than other students because of his IEP, Voight faced vitriol from other on Facebook.
"I heard a lot of really horrible comments, some real ableist junk that was like, 'He's not going to need this for long term anyways, so why does he need to be back in school?'" Voight said.
Cullen, a sixth grader, is excited to return to school five days a week. He said he felt overwhelmed by all of the screen time it took to learn virtually.
"It was a little weird for me," he said. "Just not seeing my friends and like watching stuff instead through a computer screen and meh."
In order to keep as many students learning in person as possible, the Appleton Area School District set up a COVID-19 hotline that parents are encouraged to call as soon as they get positive coronavirus test results for their students. This way, contact tracing can begin immediately.
The hotline reads instructions in English, Hmong and Spanish.