The Shoemaker Bugle

By: Yael Ventura

As 2021 came to an end and the students returned back to school, a new COVID variant has shown up as well. Omicron has reared its ugly head as a more infective mutation of the virus, with it easily being able to spread around quickly. This new variant has affected schools across the nation, with teachers having up to 50% of their student’s being quarantined or absent. Just in the LAUSD district alone, they recorded 33% absentee across the district. On average, teachers recorded up to 40-50 absent students across all their classes. Of course this brings forth many issues concerning students and teachers. For instance, teachers struggle with trying to keep their quarantined students on track with their regular classes. Teachers can’t continue with a lesson because the absent students won’t be on the same page as regular students when they eventually return. students aren’t being sent back home, teachers are back to being in a full classroom and seeing familiar faces.

For students, it’s difficult to keep up with the homework without the teacher’s guidance and having that face to face learning. Just being given the homework without the much needed learning can cause a student to fall behind, making it very difficult to raise their grades. As well as possibly falling behind with grades, another struggle students face is mental health. Quarantine was hard, mentally, for students as they went from being in a social setting to being stuck at home for a year. Seniors are also really worried about shutdowns with how many people have been sent home, fearing that a possible shutdown could ruin their final year of school and senior activities. As scary as possible shutdowns are, it doesn’t mean students are helpless. Many actions can be done to counteract COVID-19 and it’s variants, like covering up with a mask.

Along with covering up, getting the vaccine and it’s booster is a great way to protect yourself and family against the virus, especially with the new Omicron variant. Taking tests is also very useful in counteracting the virus. Thankfully, as the days go by more and more students are showing up to school again. With classes being almost filled back to how they were, and with students aren’t being sent back home, teachers are back to being in a full classroom and seeing familiar faces.