By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor
Tons of students at McClatchy lined up to receive COVID testing in the pool room upon returning to school from winter break. When asked, a member of the COVID aide team in the testing room said “I couldn’t give you a rough estimate. Hundreds. A lot more than usual. Like the whole school.”
The testing center was swarmed with students in the morning before school, during all six periods and lunch, and after school.
According to Principal Andrea Egan, 7 to 8 teachers were absent today due to illness, some because of COVID but not all confirmed. McClatchy has not yet experienced a major substitute teacher shortage and was able to cover all but one of these teacher absences. The class without a substitute was gathered in the library to be supervised by school librarian Lynnette Scott.
In the case that a teacher is absent and a substitute is unable to supervise, classes are to be sent to the library, gym, or auditorium.
“While I am eternally optimistic that 2022 will be a better year, it appears that January may be quite challenging given the spread of the Omicron COVID variant,” Egan stated in Sunday’s Roar message.
As of now, McClatchy will not be reverting to any form of online learning. All McClatchy students will continue to be required to wear masks at all times, with the exception of eating and drinking when outdoors. In the Roar, Egan thanked families and students who have uploaded their vaccination statuses and explained that students without uploaded documentation of vaccinations or exemptions may be moved to independent study. Unvaccinated students with exemptions will begin regular COVID testing later this month.
SCUSD families and students can submit vaccine records here if they have not yet done so. Exemption applications can be found here.