Safety at Park

Osei said starting the school year off in a restrictive model has allowed Park to loosen restrictions now that it is more prepared. 

“We started the school year off even more restrictive than what the guidance suggested and we did that out of abundance of caution,” Osei said. “There was so much unknown to us about how this would work, and as we learn more about how all of this works, we feel we are able to utilize the guidance given to us as opposed to being more restrictive.”

While the COVID-19 variants are concerning to Colacci, she said she is more focused on stopping the spread of the virus as a whole.

“I’m more worried about the virus spreading more in general before we have the chance to vaccinate enough people,” Colacci said.

While she believes open vaccine eligibility has its positives, Colacci is concerned that vaccinations could cause carelessness among those who have received their shots.

“I’m a little bit worried that people will start to be complacent, especially if they themselves get their vaccine, even if there are other people around,” Colacci said “So it’s a positive and a negative.”

Even though many students and staff have the opportunity to get vaccinated, Kelly said this doesn’t mean much, as the process to being fully vaccinated can take two to six weeks depending on the vaccine. 

“If people are getting (their vaccines) in the middle of April, they’re not going to be fully vaccinated until school is (over),” Kelly said. “So it’s going to make us feel more safe for the last two weeks, but it’s not going to change much.”

Even with an increase of students and staff being vaccinated, Moalim said classrooms cause her most concern due to her close proximity with her classmates.

“You don’t know if the person next to you or the person behind you has COVID(-19),” Moalim said. “And maybe they don’t even know.”