Students protest COVID conditions in Denver schools

The return of school post-holiday amid the rise in infections left pandemic-weary teachers, students and families exhausted and created divides on the path forward.

• Students at North and Thomas Jefferson high schools walked out Thursday to demand safer conditions as they try to avoid the coronavirus and a return to virtual schooling. It follows similar demonstrations nationwide.

Zoom in: At one Denver high school, the Italian teacher had to fill in for the Spanish teacher. She luckily spoke both languages.

• A half-empty classroom led a history teacher to delay the day's lesson to avoid repeating it later for the missing students.
• Crystal River Elementary in Carbondale was forced to move to remote learning because the teachers were at home with their own quarantined children.

What they’re saying: If fall seemed "mostly normal," after winter break, "it felt like we were coming back into a different world," said Crystal River's assistant principal Kendall Reiley.

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