With San Diego county moving into the orange tier and the vaccine rollout, San Dieguito Union High School District reopened schools for a 1 day a week learning model on March 16, 2021 and expanded reopening to a 4 day a week on-campus model on April 12, 2021.
“There’s students who want to go back on campus, to see teachers or have access to extracurriculars. It’s important to reopen schools, but students should still be given the choice for at-home distance learning, that has benefited some students,” Sofia Vendituoli, a senior at TPHS, said.
Many students support the reopening of the district, and endorse the hybrid learning model. “Schools should start to open now as we have the vaccine rolling out. While the situation is not ideal, it is pretty good considering that going in person is optional. It’s a good, happy medium and accommodates people in the best way possible,” Ashley Chammas, a junior at TPHS, said.
As COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations in San Diego county decrease, some students believe it is safe to reopen schools. “I think it is safe to reopen now because a lot of people are getting vaccinated, the COVID-19 cases are down, we’re in the orange tier now, and our daily positivity rates like 2%. It’s safe to reopen as long as the protocols are followed,” Vendituoli said.
In these unprecedented times, students feel the uncertainty of the reopening plan was understandable, but hoped for more transparency. “The district’s handling is getting more organized, and it’s making it easier for the school to reopen. But in the beginning, it was slightly hard to follow and confusing due to the change in plans without transparency,” Vendituoli said.
Students going in person feel safe and say protocols are being adhered to. “The school is doing really a good job. They have us login to CatapultEMS everyday as a health check in to see if we’ve been exposed to COVID or not. Each class has an air filter, the teachers really enforce the mask rule, people are staying socially distanced as every other desk is marked off, and the teachers are really strict about following the safety regulations. There’s no tolerance for disobedience right now,” Chammas, going to school in person, said.
Many students support the reopening plan as long as the proper protocols are being followed.