On Feb. 10, House Bill 1368 was passed by the Washington State Legislature, establishing safety guidelines and granting funds to all public schools to be used for COVID-19 mitigation and relief. But how exactly is this money being utilized – and how is it affecting our student body?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), $2.6 Billion has been allocated for the mitigation of COVID within Washington state public schools. This has been further broken up into two broad categories: safety and learning aid. The former encompasses investments into measures that will best ensure the health of the students and teachers, such as purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean schools.
Other uses of funding under this category, as outlined by the NCSL, include “school facility repairs and improvements to reduce risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards,” alongside the testing, inspection, maintenance, repair, replacement or upgrading of projects to improve the air quality of school facilities. Among initiatives of this nature are the purchase of air filters, fans, air conditioning systems, and heating systems.
The learning aid category includes money for technology, technology aid, and addressing the learning disparity and loss due to COVID that has disproportionately impacted students in poverty, those with learning disabilities, those learning English as a foreign language, or students experiencing homelessness.
Currently, receiving two doses of the vaccine against COVID is required of all school staff. According to the Washington State Department of Health, “All employees in educational settings must be fully vaccinated or have a medical or religious exemption” – a measure in alignment with Governor Jay Inslee’s August mandate.
While teachers are required to be vaccinated, the Washington State Department of Health has not made the same action mandatory for students, saying only that “Schools should promote vaccinations for eligible students.”
Lewis Dracobly-Helsel, a junior at Roosevelt, disagrees with the current stance that Washington State is taking, stating, “They should probably make [vaccines] mandatory.”
Despite measures being put into place to protect members of Roosevelt, such as making assemblies virtual and separating desks within classrooms, some students feel that it’s not enough.
Junior Nati García-Bompadre says, “I don’t think the lunchroom is exactly the safest place,” citing concerns that as Seattle weather becomes increasingly rainy, fewer students will wish to eat outside, leading to crowded conditions within the lunchroom and halls.
When eating lunch, or during other instances that involve removing one’s mask, students are supposed to maximize distance between each other, maintaining at least three feet of space, per Washington State Department of Health guidelines.
According to the SPS Covid Dashboard, as of October 24, there have been 472 cases of COVID within the Seattle Public Schools – five of which have occurred within Roosevelt. State COVID policies are in place to minimize the risk of a larger outbreak occurring within the school.
