By Misael Gomez, Sports Editor
The San Mateo Union High School District held a board meeting on January 21st to outline their plans on a theoretical reopening of schools in February. It has been almost a year since the CoronaVirus affected the world, and although things don’t seem to be slowing down, the district feels that it is time to let the students get a traditional educational experience.
The district will be following the “California Safe Schools for All” plan. It is made to provide support and accountability to make sure there are as little possible COVID transmissions when in person attendance is taking place. Sara DeVaney, a member of the school board, spoke about a specific “COVID checklist,” which requires each school in the State of California to complete in order to reopen schools. DeVaney assured that “This really aligns well with what the current county health department has with only one or two differences, so we’re well on our way to identifying and completing these items.” To ensure that transmissions stay at the lowest optimal level, on campus visitation will be highly discouraged unless absolutely necessary. Along with that, Dr. Kirk Black mentioned campuses will have signs that are “similar to what you would see at supermarkets.” Signs like “one way” and tape in lines to stay 6 feet apart are going to be all around the schools.
On a regular COVID on campus school day, students and teachers are required to wear masks, and pass a check in before entering the building. The process starts before students even get to school, where each student and teacher needs to answer a series of questions on the LiveSafe app that determine whether or not they are qualified to enter the school campus. Once they get the green checkmark on the survey, they arrive at school and get a temperature check. If you pass that, you are required to wash your hands or take hand sanitizer, go straight to your classroom, and have all school supplies ready as if it were a regular school day. Students will have a permanently assigned seat for the whole semester. Despite being in school, students will still be participating in zoom classes. To ensure each student and staff member stays comfortable on campus there will be face shields, protective suits for custodial and health staff, latex gloves, and signs around campus giving tips on hygiene. This is just some of the few things planned by the District to make sure on-campus school is a safe experience.
Our district is doing everything they feel is necessary to make sure on-campus learning can become a reality. Although there is still work to do, it appears that the school board is more than ready to apply each of these practices into every school. This could be a real step forward in coming back to how things were, but both students and staff need to work together to make this work. The Mills Thunderbolt is excited to see how this develops, and wishes everyone the best for this semester!
