With Covid-19 playing a big role in the new school year, many students have started adjusting to their new schedules along with the rules and regulations caused by COVID-19. Unfortunately, not everyone follows these guidelines and aren’t keeping themselves and others safe.

Everyone is back which makes the hallways much more crowded than usual. With COVID-19 still prevalent, it puts many students and staff at risk. There are many reminders like where you should be walking, to sanitize or disinfect areas, and to keep your masks on. However, there are always students who don’t follow them. During transition time between classes, students rush to get to their next class on time which makes them disregard the amount of distance they should keep from each other in the halls. As this continues to happen, there are other students who are forced to choose to take long routes to their next class so that they can avoid the large crowds.

There are four different lunch periods that allow students to have more space to eat and not be bombarded with the amount of people in a given lunch block. Nonetheless, students still continue to make close-contact with each other. When school started, there were signs on the tables and seats where students were and were not allowed to sit. Along with that, there was a number of how many students had to sit there. After a day, those signs were taken down due to students not following them and still sitting all together. The reason that students still sit together is because they are limited to only eating inside the cafeteria or outside of school. 

In some classes, there are over 25 students in one room with their teachers and they still have to continue to sit side-by-side because there isn’t enough space in the classroom to properly socially distance. Whenever a student has to get pulled out of class for any reason, it stirs up emotions within the class and even the teachers. Although the reason for them leaving early could mean many other things, thoughts of the worst immediately could come running to students’ heads. 

There are several ways that the school can resolve issues like this. For example, they can add dividers in the halls to separate students by the direction they are going. This way, students are allowed to keep their distance from the people moving the opposite direction and prevent the massive traffic at the intersections of each hallway. During lunch, the school can add more tables or benches outside for students to eat and get fresh air. Another solution that the school can do is separate the school day by having morning and afternoon classes. This may not be ideal but it would help give more space inside the classes, hallways, and during lunch. 

Since school started, many students have brought up concerns regarding wearing masks all day, not being able to follow the guidelines, and even having more than five classmates out for any reason. These concerns have students worried over the slightest things like someone coughing or leaving their masks off. Sadly, there are teachers who let these students continue to go on with their days without telling them to wear their masks properly or to pull it up. These problems have led to them thinking of  how poorly the school is enforcing the rules. 

Because of these new rules, it has been harder to be back in school and focus during classes. Although staff and teachers struggle to enforce these, they try their best to give students the best learning environment that they can while staying safe. The year has started off rough with many of these issues rising but students and staff continue to try their best to resolve and get past each of these problems.