Many schools and businesses have been forced to alter their daily routines to fit with new COVID-19 health guidelines, and Manheim Township is no exception. With the first marking period of the 2020-2021 school year coming to an end, however, staff and students have questioned how well the high school has responded to the new health and safety guidelines.

As of November 9, 2020, Manheim Township High School and Middle School have reverted back to a hybrid learning schedule after another confirmed COVID case and the recent passing of Middle School guidance counselor, Mrs. Chitwood. Students will be learning remotely for four out of the five school days up until November 20, 2020. This temporary closure leaves teachers and students with many concerns regarding the reopening of the school buildings.  

At first glance, the high school hallways at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon don’t look very socially distant. From friends laughing together in small groups, to students running down stairwells, to teachers trying to keep their students from crowding at their doors, the hallways look like a breeding ground for COVID-19. Nonetheless, crowded hallways are only one of the major obstacles that Township has had to overcome this school year.

It is relevant that Township has put their forth their best efforts in keeping their students and staff safe during the school day. One notable health precaution is the new hand sanitizing stations placed in the main lobby, library, and cafeteria. Students and staff are required to use the hand sanitizer before they enter the school building and before they enter the library. While this precaution does not fully eradicate the risk of transmitting the virus, it lowers the possibility of students bringing it into the classroom. 

Another safety precaution that has been implemented is one-way stairwells. Pre-pandemic, the high school stairwells were a place where hallway traffic would come to a standstill. During a normal school day, it would be almost impossible to get from the basement to the second floor in under five minutes. So when schools were beginning to reopen, the stairwells became a major concern. Now, the one-way stairwells seem to be a solution to not only mitigate the COVID crisis, but to maybe even resolve some of the slow traffic in between classes. 

One major roadblock in trying to maintain social distancing, however, is lunches. Normally, lunches would be packed tight with students trying to find seats to fit fifteen of their friends around one table. While it is most certainly not ideal, the two person per table assigned seating assures that students can be easily contact traced if they were to come into contact with someone who had the virus. 

Senior Angela Bearinger was one of the many students who were recently sent home to quarantine for two weeks. Bearinger expressed concern that the high school could “try to encourage more social distancing in the hallways,” and was in favor of the continuation of contact tracing, since that is how they decided that she needed to be sent home. 

School safety is not the only thing to be worried about as well. Mr. Klopp, an IB and AP math teacher, has reminded students to make smart, and safe, decisions when they’re not in school to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 

Ananya Belsarkar, a junior, said that “[she] feels like people are just continuing on with their normal lives outside of school.” Meaning that once some students exit the school building at the end of the day, they disregard many of the health and safety precautions they need to take in order to limit the spread of the virus.  

Even though staff and students have expressed concern about students not wearing masks or following social distancing outside of school, Klopp also mentioned that he’s very rarely had to ask a student to fix their mask.

 “The biggest transmission danger is the air doplets that you emit when you speak or sing,” he said. “Therefore, the most effective way to lower the risk of transmitting the virus would be to mandate masks,” he said. 

As Klopp had mentioned, the school is doing almost everything they can — from wiping down desks and chairs to enforcing masks and social distancing — to ensure students’ safety at the high school. 

By looking at the high school as a whole, it can be seen that the administration has done as much as they can to secure the safety of their staff and students. Mrs. Bresch, a chemistry teacher at the high school, said that “you can never be 100% safe from something.” 

While the school is enforcing safety regulations, the risk of contracting the virus is never completely eliminated. 

 She also stated that there is only so much that the school can eliminate in regards to COVID-19. Township is doing the best they can to check students as they come in, social distance, and contract trace. There is only so much that can be done at once, yet it seems that Township is putting in their best effort to make certain that the health of the staff and students is their number one priority.