Hopin’ to Reopen
According to the Los Angeles Times, 3.5 percent of the coronavirus (COVID-19) tests from Sept. 13 to Sept. 20 came back positive, the lowest rate California has seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Upon seeing the number cases for COVID-19 steadily decreasing, there is a clear indication for schools to start discussing reopening their campuses to students. As such, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (PVPUSD) Board of Education has held weekly meetings in which they plan for a safe and realistic hybrid system in hopes to return to in-person learning on campus as soon as November. As PVPUSD has not gained approval from the county to reopen yet, the district would not want to open their campuses earlier and risk the safety of their students. Once Los Angeles County sees a noticeable decline in their COVID-19 cases, Peninsula and other PVPUSD schools should not hesitate to reopen their campuses if all proper safety requirements are met.
“I am hopeful that Los Angeles County will be moved from the bottom state tier in the next few weeks,” President of the Board of Education Suzanne Seymour said. “This is the first step in getting our school campuses reopened. I think most students would prefer to learn in-person.”
PVPUSD plans to pick up athletic activities once again as a first attempt to reopen campus. In order to ensure that COVID-19 outbreaks will not occur during these sports practices, the district will be following the County of Los Angeles Public Health’s Protocols for Youth Sports Leagues. Some of these guidelines include maintaining at least a six-foot radius from each other, bringing individual sport equipment from home and screening for every practice, a procedure to recognize COVID-19 symptoms. As the Peninsula athletic department is the first school-related activity to begin in-person encounters, it is important for the PVPUSD to keep an eye on these athletes and coaches as they try to maintain these safety procedures. Moreover, with the many precautions the Los Angeles Public Health Department has developed for sports, the chances of a major spread of COVID-19 cases in the athletic department is low, resulting in an increase of the likelihood of reopening the campus for academic purposes.
“It is important to me that school reopens [for sports], ‘’ senior Sara Nejad said. “[PVPUSD] reopening the campus for student athletes gives us the chance to do what we love again after many months of waiting.”
Although it seems as if Peninsula is on its way to reopening its campus, recent reports of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools have not been encouraging this. According to an Oklahoman district’s public schools website, nearly 700 public school students and staff and two classes from a nearby elementary school were forced to quarantine after one week of school. Though these numbers are staggering (as there are about 8,500 individuals in the entire district), these schools did not follow the same safety precautions as the PVPUSD Board of Education has set up. With little enforcement of social distancing and the use of masks, it is no wonder why there was an tremendous increase of COVID-19 cases in just one week.
In order to prevent situations like this, the PVPUSD Board of Education plans to establish a hybrid learning system intended to be 50 percent remote learning (classes taken at home) and 50 percent in-person learning (classes taken on campus), with necessary safety precautions (six feet radius from others, masks worn throughout the school day and all breaks removed). These certain precautions will enable students and staff members a boost in both their physical and mental health since virtual learning began. According to a study conducted by University of California San Francisco researchers, there was a 5.5 percent average decrease (287 steps) worldwide, growing to a 27.3 percent drop (1,432 steps) within 30 days, in the number of steps taken per day by the average United States resident. This number increased to 50 percent in the following months. Not only has physical health declined, mental health has seen a decrease as well. In a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll conducted in mid-July, 53 percent of students and adults in the United States reported that their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the virus. However, if students and staff members were able to walk around the campus and interact with others, these numbers would surely decrease. Undoubtedly, students should be able to return to campus safely if all of the precautions stated above are abided by.
With almost eight months since the beginning of quarantine and the shutdown of Peninsula’s campus, students and staff members have seen a noticeable change in their learning style, social life and physical and mental well-being. The decrease of reported COVID-19 cases and the increase of concerns regarding virtual learning has brought up the subject of reopening school campuses in the near future. In order to efficiently and effectively do this, athletic activities will act as a test subject and will set the stage of how and when the hybrid school system can take place. However, everyone must follow COVID-19 precautions both before, during and after the reopening of campus to do so. Following these guidelines creates a door of opportunity for Peninsula High School to reopen its campus to students and staff members for academic purposes.
“It is important to me for school to reopen, but it is more important that we are safe and would not run the risk of infecting each other,” junior Sarah Schmainda said. “If students cooperate to uphold the [proper] safety precautions, I believe it is possible to create a safe environment in which students can return to campus.”
