By Noah Shifter
Focus Editor
TCHS COVID-19 regulations don’t make sense. Masks are required except between 12:20 and 1:25, and physical distancing is necessary unless you’re trying to get to class through a packed hallway. The district has never explained these gaps in reasoning to us and seemingly expects us to accept inconsistencies with blind obedience.
These contradictions confuse us and unfortunately lead some students to distrust measures that our district put in place. Establishing consistent rules and providing reasoning alongside them would allow students to understand why we follow these regulations.
Temple City’s homecoming was on Oct. 1 and 2, starting with the school-wide assembly. Students were not allowed to watch the assembly in person because of spacing concerns, and ASB streamed it on YouTube instead. However, later that same day, hundreds of students who presumably completed a COVID self-screening form and adults who did not self-screen beforehand gathered for the homecoming football game in stands with no social distancing. The principle that mass gatherings are unsafe, regardless of its accuracy or inaccuracy, was not applied equally to the homecoming assembly and football game.
The inconsistencies continue. The very next day, the homecoming dance suffered from severe restrictions in the same vein. Students, vaccinated and wearing masks, were separated into small groups and not allowed to dance close to each other. These spacing rules were not in place at the homecoming game, where possibly unvaccinated spectators crowded together on packed bleachers and stood in close groups on the pavement. What accounts for this difference in regulation?
Logically, given these two scenarios, one must conclude that either the football spectators were in danger during the game or that the measures put in place at the dance were ineffective. Did the spectators have an elevated risk of getting COVID-19, or were students at the dance subjected to stifling regulations that had no real effect?
Either way, all these inconsistencies spread distrust of COVID-19 measures among students and staff. This could lead to the undesirable outcome of widespread resistance to government health measures and a perception that our leaders don’t care for us.
Since we know masks do work, people not wearing them in response to confusion about their efficacy given the contradictions in guidelines would negatively affect the health of our school and community.
I call, therefore, upon our school administration, but chiefly upon our district, to maintain consistency in COVID-19 safety measures. The current contradictions confuse students and harm our community, and we as students deserve to understand the reasoning behind regulatory decisions. The goal of our educational professionals is to guide us into adulthood, so don’t expect blind obedience from us and stop treating us like children.