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Schedules changed to ease student workload ..................................................................................................................................................
Impending vaccine mandate stirs discussion
BY DAVID RAYMOND
Staff Reporter
Over a year ago Sequoia, and many other schools around the nation, closed their doors. This fall Sequoia opened fully in person for the first time since March 2020, but, with the new delta variant, COVID-19 seems to be mounting a comeback that could shut down schools once more.
On Oct. 1 California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he will implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students in California once the vaccine is fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for minors.
“The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella – there’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for COVID-19,” Newsom said.
Tyler Wilson, a freshman at Sequoia, stated that he was unvaccinated for COVID-19, but that he would be open to receiving the vaccine in the future.
Wilson has not been vaccinated because he sees the COVID-19 vaccine as a risk reward equation. He is weighing the risk of the COVID-19 vaccine in comparison to catching COVID-19. Right now he sees the vaccine as a bigger risk then COVID-19 itself.
“When Covid killed 150 kids in 2020 the flu actually killed 450,” Wilson said. “I’ve had the flu and I don’t see it to be that bad.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 killed 377,883 Americans in 2020 alone. The CDC also states that the COVID-19 vaccine can prevent you from getting and spreading COVID-19. So even if students are not deemed to be at high risk for COVID-19, getting the vaccine can help protect those in their community.
Right now the main concern for many unvaccinated Americans, including Wilson is the long term effects of the vaccine.
“It was created in like a year, right and it usually takes longer than that for other vaccines,” Wilson said.
“COVID-19 vaccines have been rapidly developed and distributed to help fight the pandemic. During this process, all steps have been taken to ensure their safety and effectiveness,” the CDC claimed. As for the side effects of the vaccine the CDC also stated that “serious side effects that could cause a long-term health problem are extremely unlikely following any vaccination, including COVID-19 vaccination.”
There are some possible side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, including swelling at the sight of vaccination, fever, headache, tiredness, muscle aches and nausea. These side effects are similar to other vaccines and should wear off as soon as 12 hours after vaccination.
Newsom’s proposed vaccine mandate won’t come until a COVID-19 vaccine is fully approved for minors.
“Based on current information, the requirement is expected to apply to grades 7-12 starting on July 1, 2022,” the office of Governor Newsom stated. “However, local health jurisdictions and local education agencies are encouraged to implement requirements ahead of a statewide requirement based on their local circumstances.”
Newsom implied that he is heavily encouraging local lawmakers at the county, city, and district level to employ their own
Photo taken by David Raymond
Gigi Odom, junior
vaccine.
Kristen Coronado, Sequoia Union High School District nurse, believes the vaccine mandate could happen at Sequoia Union High School District. Coronado had high praise for Newsom’s vaccine mandate proposal.
“I think it’s smart and wise for him to do,” Coronado said.
Somes school districts in California have made the decision to require a COVID-19 vaccine for eligible students, such as Los Angeles and Oakland.
Students at Sequoia have varying opinions about a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“I think a mandate is important to keep people safe, I think it’s important to think of those around you,” junior Gigi Odom said.
Coronado shared similar thoughts. “We have mandated vaccines all the time for students, if they don’t want to come to school they have the option to do homeschooling.”
Unvaccinated students have a much different perspective on this issue. “I would probably protest,” Wilson, who is against the mask mandate, said. “You know I’d probably be staying home at that rate.”
Schedules changed to ease student workload
Sequoia students working outside in the Tea Garden during flex period. Photo by Lucie Tenenbaum
BY LUCIE TENENBAUM
Staff Reporter
Intended for success, the block schedule has students attending every class for 40 minutes on Wednesdays. Students are becoming more and more stressed with work from their classes and Wednesdays were made to ease the workload.
“I actually like having short periods instead, because it feels exhausting being in the same class in the same spot for a long time when you’re in a longer class for more than like 30 minutes or something,” junior Genesis Miranda said, “so I actually do like on Wednesday scheduled better.”
Other students had many positive things to say about the Wednesday schedule so far. They enjoy having the short periods since they’re able to see all of their teachers and check in with them. Some students also talked about how teachers use that time as catch-up work days or days for students to be able to get help on subjects that they’re working on.
Ethan Rudy, a sophomore at Sequoia said, “I think that the Wednesday schedule, it’s good because you get to go to all your classes, but you don’t get a lot of time in, in all the classes you only get 40 minutes, so it’s not enough time to complete long assignments.”
Sophomore Natalie Ciraulo similarly said, “I like having every class on one day because then it feels like I get to check in with each teacher during the week versus being like, only every other day.”
Some students talked about the downsides of Wednesdays, one fact being that students get overloaded with work since the periods are so short they aren’t able to complete all of their work.
“I think it’s harder to get work done. But it gives teachers time to let us catch up on the work in their class, which is helpful, because sometimes projects or assignments will continue on to Wednesday. And so it gives us time to continue work, which I think is helpful,” Ciraulo elaborated.
Some students proposed changes that could be made to the schedule in order for them to maximize their learning time.
“I think that if the periods were changed into days like flex period it would help me get more work done,” sophomore Renée Van Vliet said.
Last year’s distance learning schedule included an asynchronized day where students were given a set amount of work by their teachers and they could complete it all on their own time.
“I think that asynchronous days would be a good option as well, [like last year’s schedule] where they gave you the work and you worked at your own pace,” Rudy said.
While, Wednesdays could become essential work days for students especially when it comes to them being able to completely understand a topic being taught or them being able to finish work for a certain class due to a heavy workload, there are no plans to return to asynchronous Wednesdays.
To provide further student support, Sequoia introduced more time for students to catch up on work and get extra help from teachers by adding flex periods into students’ schedules on Thursdays and Fridays which allow students to go into any class and get help from their teachers or work on assignments for that class.
