Students have returned to on-campus learning with new safety measures regarding the pandemic, such as wearing masks indoors and only eating outside. After three weeks of school, The Campanile asked students and staff for their thoughts on PAUSD’s current policies.

“I think the current (COVID-19 policies) are enough. If we see more rising cases, then we should maybe consider increasing the policies. I’ve been seeing many teachers enforcing their mask mandates and social distancing.”

— Kelly Tanaka (‘25)

“Wearing masks, considering the majority of us are vaccinated, gets a bit annoying. If we could go back to how it was last year, if we just kept desks apart, and we were able to remove our masks, I think that would be a better idea.”

–– Raenen Mathen (‘23)

“I feel like all my teachers are doing a good job of making the classroom as safe as possible by using multiple air filters or opening the windows and doors, so overall, I do feel safe.”

— Sarp Kendirli (‘24)

“I think that the mask policy is great. Whatever difficulties oppose us, the safety piece is really important. I think all the vaccination pieces that they’re requiring for teachers are great. It seems like we live in a great area where a lot of people are kind of making the right decision there.”

— Keith Tocci, AP Language teacher

“I feel pretty safe at school. I was actually quite surprised about how loose their requirements were since students were allowed to go to Town and Country. And also, I bike home to eat lunch every day, so I was quite surprised to find that no one cared about that.”

— Brian Lee (‘22)

“Our protocols –– every student being responsible for wearing a mask and all teachers being vaccinated — help us to be able to stay on campus and maintain the learning partnership. Nothing is 100% bulletproof, but we’re doing the very best that we can.”

— LaDonna Butler, 11th grade administrator