By: Joshua Choe

2020 was a hard year for schooling, as it was in general for all workspaces. Mills, however, as in common with all other high schools nationwide, went online in order to keep up teaching and learning during a time where people could not congregate in person. The next few years, when school returned back to in-person, guidelines were established, as COVID was still very prevalent and cases still ran high.

These guidelines consisted of all school personnel and students wearing their masks at all times during the school day, with mandatory distancing between people. These guidelines were lessened, as the situation with COVID evolved, gradually becoming more lenient. Eventually, masks were only required in classes, and any time students were outside of class, masks could be removed. Come 2022, masks were highly recommended, yet most students and faculty chose not to wear. Throughout this duration, anyone found to have tested positive for COVID would be required to stay home for a minimum of a week, to ensure full recovery, along with a negative test afterwards. Students that had the same class as the person that tested positive would receive an alert through email and or text message via opting in, alerting them of their close proximity. 

In the present day, during this 2023-2024 school year, the requirement of masking in school has more or less become obsolete. Some regulations still remain, including a requirement of around a five-day minimum stay at home requirement for those who have contracted COVID, as well as alerts still being sent out the same.