By William Monnot, Staff Writer
With the return to school and the new Covid restrictions, many things have changed for McClatchy in 2021. Things that we took for granted two years ago, like not wearing a mask all day, or drinking water without leaving our desk, are not possible now. Fortunately, the Associated Student Body (ASB) has been hard at work planning how to make this year as fun as any other. What can be expected from ASB this year?
“This year we’re trying to shoot for safer outreach events, trying to raise student morale, which is hard because everything is so limited,” said ASB President Reagan Mar.
“What’s really killing us is that the district is limiting us compared to other school districts.”
Currently, McClatchy students are not allowed to attend football games that take place on SCUSD property, while other schools like Jesuit and Christian Brothers can.
“Because SCUSD is a really strict district, everything is considered priority events only, and, although we can say it is a priority for our mental health, the district doesn’t see it that way,” said Mar.
Typical events, such as homecoming, will be very limited, and others might not even happen at all.
ASB plans on communication being a large part of this year. In previous years, communication has felt like an afterthought to students, but students can expect much more detailed plans in the near future.
There are also plans to formulate what will be called “staff and student appreciation.” Teachers will submit a student they want to recognize and vice versa, potentially to be chosen for some sort of reward.
“Basically to encourage people to be here, to be happy here,” said Mar.
Some things will have to be completely cut this year. As of now, rallies will not be happening — at least not for the first semester. It’s also unlikely we will see a change when it comes to football games.
Another bottleneck comes from funding. In the past two years, the classes of 2020 and 2021 received sizable funds to make up for their year spent on Zooms. The unfortunate consequence of this, however, is that there is a smaller amount of money to work with this year than there have been in previous years. McClatchy students and families should expect more fundraising efforts to come.
Almost everything has some degree of uncertainty.
“Honestly, we haven’t been able to do a lot because things have been changing every two to three days,” Mar explained.
Plans could change at any time ー it’s important for McClatchy students to keep an eye out for updates. But no matter what, we can hope for this year to mark the beginning of a return to normality