COVID-19 – AHS NEWSPAPER

Germs Gone Viral

December 13, 2024

By Samantha Sun
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

As the crisp autumn air gives way to the chill of winter, the familiar sounds of sniffles and coughs fill the hallways of Andover High School. Inside, classrooms are sprinkled with empty tissue boxes, weary faces, and feverish temperatures.

For many students, this is a yearly struggle: balancing rigorous schoolwork while battling illnesses that leave them drained and struggling to keep up.

Junior Aki French knows the struggle all too well. On a recent chilly Sunday, a dull headache settled in, followed by dizziness. “I noticed my head [started to] hurt [and] I got super cold,” French said. Outside, she bundled up in six layers, trying to fight it off despite the weather. Already, she suspected that the illness might be more serious than the average cold.

The confirmation came swiftly—through a COVID test, she discovered the coronavirus had struck for the second time, the first time being in 2021 over quarantine. French wasn’t surprised; a friend of hers had recently tested positive for COVID. French theorized she caught the virus from her friend. French’s first and second experiences were similar; her days were filled with fevers, headaches, and resting to recover quickly. However this time, the sickness felt more daunting as a junior in high school.

Finally returning after a week of recovery, she found herself with a mountain of work. “I missed three quizzes and two essays because I got COVID,” French said with a sigh. As a hardworking student taking two AP courses, she had to put in extra effort to catch up with the rest of her classmates. This meant staying after school for tutoring from her physics teacher, finishing quizzes during H-Block, and getting through homework as quickly as possible.

“It was very hard to manage… I think I managed it,” French laughed, reflecting upon her efforts to catch up. “But a lot of teachers and my guidance counselor helped me to arrange the schedule of testing and homework.” This was something French gratefully advised all students to do: ask for help from counselors, teachers, and parents.

Health teacher Candice McVeigh expressed a similar opinion. “It’s important to advocate for yourself if you are feeling overwhelmed,” said McVeigh. Oftentimes, getting support helps lessen the stress and burden of getting back into school and making up work.

Cases like French’s are all too common. Students often find themselves buried under work after just a few days away due to illness. Due to less sunshine and being indoors more, it’s easier to contract an illness, McVeigh explained.

“Schedules tend to get busier with the change of seasons,” said school nurse Heidi Katz. “People get run down and self-care is often not high on the priority list.”

The most common illness? The common cold, which prompts the most visits to the nurse’s office. The flu is the second most common contender at AHS.

The flu and common cold are contracted through coughing, sneezing, or touching contaminated surfaces. The best ways to prevent them is by washing your hands thoroughly, getting lots of rest, and drinking enough fluids. There are also annual flu and COVID vaccinations, which can help lower the chances of catching them.

“Everyone is so busy and anxious about missing school, clubs, sports, they don’t allow themselves to fully recover,” said school nurse Melissa Sucharewicz.

While it can be nerve-wracking to miss a lot of school from being sick, if illnesses are not properly treated, they can potentially increase the length and severity of the sickness. It is best to let the body heal on its own before tackling school work, extracurriculars, or sports.

McVeigh observed that a lot of upperclassmen, especially those taking harder classes, often prioritize school work over their health. “First and foremost, I believe—maybe it’s because I’m a health teacher—that you have to take care of yourself to make sure that there is a balance [in your schedule],” she said.

She emphasized that finding a balance includes taking care of homework assignments, having downtime, and taking care of the body properly.

Finding time for each of these factors is the hardest part, as time management is not an easy task. Too much or too little of either of these can create a dysfunctional schedule. While schoolwork is a priority as a student, so is taking care of our health. It’s important for all students at AHS to remember that self-care is equally crucial as keeping up to date with homework and tests.

Students Miss Outdoor Breaks During Class

May 2, 2023

By Xander McKay-Kao
STAFF WRITER

With the frequency of breaks during class diminishing, Andover High School students have stated that taking a walk outside during class would help with productivity.

Originally introduced as mask breaks, institutionalized short breaks from class taken outside of the school began when the COVID protocol was initiated at AHS. Caitlin Brown, AHS’s principal, explained that the COVID system encouraged teachers, especially during long blocks, to allow times for students to remove their masks. Spacing issues meant that these mask breaks could not be done inside, so specific mask break locations outside the school were established. This was so that the school could keep track of where kids were for safety reasons.

Now that AHS is no longer under COVID protocol, Brown says that the school just asks the teachers to inform the school if they are to go outside, but now that teachers are no longer told to take their kids outside, many teachers have stopped doing it altogether.

Enrico Panzica, a junior, said, “Trudging through a day with no breaks is hard work, school only really has one break, lunch.” He explained that a break helps him clear his head, a sentiment held by many others. In addition to Panzica, many students, such as juniors Mars Tasiopoulos, Arjun Chavan, Luke Stump, and Kyle Huang, adore these breaks. Many have expressed displeasure with the recent lack of them. Many teachers no longer take their students on walks, perhaps due to time constraints. One math teacher, Dorothy Power, said, “In general, I have not been taking them. I would love to go more regularly… but there is always so much to do.” Walks take on average 5-10 minutes if a class walks around the entire school, perhaps less if they choose to use the courtyard. A break of that length could take up a significant portion of class time.

Brown explained a problem that arose during the lunch block, which is one of the two long blocks during which teachers would actually take breaks past COVID. When classes would walk past the exterior courtyard by the cafeteria, students would mix and begin to deviate by heading inside early. Not knowing where students were meant that the school couldn’t ensure their safety. As such, she has said that teachers have been told not to take laps around the school during lunch. Both Scott Darlington, an assistant principal, and Brown have said that the interior courtyard is a perfectly suitable place to take these breaks.

Some teachers agree with the general student sentiment. Katie Reusch, a social studies teacher who teaches U.S. History, Race & Membership, and Music & Society classes, is fond of walking breaks. “I find that people are better equipped to do whatever we’re doing after the breaks as opposed to just trying to stick it out and getting tired,” she said.

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Class of 2022 Celebrates Overcoming Pandemic’s Challenges in Graduation

June 9, 2022

Avi Shapira
ONLINE EDITOR

For the first time since the pandemic started, the Andover High School class of 2022 had their graduation ceremony in the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, on June 6, 2022.

It has been three years since the last graduation ceremony was held in the Tsongas Center. In the past two years, graduations have taken place outside or virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For this year’s seniors, the pandemic started their sophomore year. Despite the difficulties endured by the class of 2022, speech makers praised the students’ character and achievements. “We have endured so much throughout our four years,” said senior Kijari Boyd in the welcome statement.

“You showed that masks may cover half our faces, but they cannot hide our smiles,” said superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey. “They cannot mask your pride.”

STAFF PHOTO / Dane Connor
Senior Abby Murnane standing up after being commended by Principal Brown

Principal Caitlin Brown praised the many achievements of the class of 2022, such as the successful girls’ field hockey team and the Seaperch robotics team. Brown also commended Abby Murnane for her commitment to joining the military after college.

“These are just a few of the achievements from the class of 2022, and they are incredible,” said Brown. “But what makes this class stand out is who they are, day-in and day-out.”

Parvey agreed. “You have grown into good citizens,” she told the class of 2022. “That alone says that you have gotten the true message of your education here.”

Parvey encouraged the graduating class to continue to embody the Golden Warrior principles they learned at AHS — kindness and mutual respect. When dealing with disagreeable people in life, Parvey reminded the students: “You are not responsible for how they act, you are responsible for how you act,” she reminded the students. Parvey’s message to the students was simple: continue to be kind and respectful.

The ceremony included the mention of an important substitute teacher: Francyne Fuller, who passed away this year. The senior class presented the distinguished citizen award to Fuller for her work as a hall monitor and substitute teacher at AHS. The award was presented to Fuller’s daughter by senior Michaela Sherlock. Sherlock described Fuller as “a beloved teacher and role model” who was “always finding humor in life.” She was honored by the senior class for her “kind nature and inspiring words” as a teacher.

Prior to the ceremony, the seniors gave advice to current underclassmen, reminding students to enjoy their time in high school to the fullest.

“Stop wishing you were older and live life in the present,” said Tyler Fabbri.

“Just enjoy the moments that you have,” advised Tristan Fabre. “And make sure you… know how to ask for help.”

“All will be well,” reassured Catherine Gorman.

STAFF PHOTO / Dane Connor
Class of 2022 doing a standing ovation for the AHS faculty

While the class of 2022 was excited to graduate, they also reminisced on their time in high school.

Opening her speech, class essayist Kiara Karwowski said, “Pardon the interruption. Bus 24 students will be going home on Bus 30 today, after Bus 30 has completed its regular route,” mimicking the frequent announcements on changes in the bus schedule this year. This was met with many laughs from the audience. Karwowski also referenced cameras and mics “not working” during online learning last year.

“I wish I could go down to the vending machine just one more time,” said Karwowski.

“I’ll definitely miss my teachers, I really liked some of them. I’ll also miss my friends because they’re all going to different colleges,” said Carol Yu, another senior.

“I’ll really miss the community and the people,” said Jeff Connors.

In the closing remarks, Catherine Machold quoted the TV show Friends: “Welcome to the real world. It sucks, you’re gonna love it.”

After the remarks, overwhelming cheers erupted as seniors celebrated their final high school moments, throwing their caps in the air.

STAFF PHOTO / Dane Connor
Senior David Allen (left) and junior Noah Allard (right) hugging during graduation

Additional reporting by Jocelyn Barton, Naomi Bloom, Anusha Sambangi, Melody Tang, and Grace Wang.

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APS Mask Mandate Lifted

April 7, 2022

Naomi Bloom
STAFF WRITER

On the night of March 4, the mask mandate in Andover Public Schools was lifted by the APS School Committee. APS students and staff are no longer required to wear masks in school or at school-sponsored events.

Because of the schools’ high vaccination rates and the steady decrease in COVID-19 cases prior to the mandate being lifted as well as the state mandate being lifted, the committee determined that it would be safe to stop wearing masks in school. Many were excited that the mandate was ending, and the committee’s decision was supported by the majority of the community.

Since then, many people have stopped wearing masks, but there are some who are keeping their masks on. Ohad Mamet, a junior, said that he is planning on wearing a mask until the cases stabilize. “I want to wait a while before I stop wearing it to make sure there are no new outbreaks caused from everyone stopping wearing their masks at once,” he said. This was a common concern since the mandate was lifted just a week after February break, but the cases have not increased too dramatically. In fact, the cases have mostly declined since the break.

The numbers of weekly reported COVID-19 cases in AHS and the APS district.

AHS junior Diya Ganesh, while a bit worried about the mandate getting lifted, noted that it may not make that big of a difference. “Cases seem to be okay, which is all that really matters,” said Ganesh. “[It’s] not like people were really wearing masks all that well before.” Mamet agreed. “The mandate was helpful initially, but just became useless and annoying when people refused to wear their masks properly,” he said. “Lifting the mandate didn’t really change anything from a safety perspective as most of the people who wore masks properly are still wearing masks and the ones who didn’t aren’t.”

“I think at first a lot of people wanted to keep their masks on, but as time went on, I think people realized that it was unnecessary,” said Freshman Ian Chiang. “It’s comfortable to not have one on… I personally feel safe enough to not wear one myself.” He also said that if COVID cases were to increase, he would start masking again.

Interestingly, an email from AHS principal Caitlin Brown to teachers on March 7 said that because the policy has been changed to mask optional, there is no longer a need for mask breaks. Instead, Brown wrote, “Students in masks can take a break in the classroom as needed.” Junior Riley Cox thought that this didn’t make sense, because it would defeat the purpose of those students wearing masks in the first place. However, there are some teachers who allow masking students or the whole class to take short breaks in the hallway if needed.

A concern of School Committee members was the potential for harassment and division between people who continued to wear their masks and those who chose not to. “Are teachers prepared to address that kind of behavior in their classrooms?” asked Tracy Spruce, a member of the Andover School Committee. “If we’re going to do this, I want to be confident that the level of instability we’ve experienced over this issue is not going to translate into our classrooms.” While this “instability” has not been too common at AHS, some have experienced it. “I’ve faced some from a select group of kids, but most people haven’t said anything,” said Cox. However, Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey stated that the schools’ general anti-bullying policy will deal with these types of issues.

Additionally, there was a push from parents in the community to lift the mandate. When Andover Patch asked about people’s thoughts on the mandate on Facebook, some had strong opinions. “This is so long overdue,” said user Tim Pitta. “History will never understand why we put our children through this… Shame on our policy makers for not lifting this mandate a long time ago.” Another user, Traci Babcock-Connor, claimed that mask mandates are “child abuse,” and that “[t]he fear and anxiety created are criminal and [there] needs to be accountability.” On the other hand, there were many who felt the decision was made too soon.

Nevertheless, the mask mandate was passed, and the number of cases is continuing to go down. People have been mostly supportive of their peers’ choices. “I am confident that all in the community will be respectful and supportive of an individual’s choice to either wear a mask or not,” said Parvey.

Articles Sports

Jungle Roars Back to Life

April 7, 2022

Camille Storch
CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

Coming back from a season of no fans at all, Andover High School’s sports teams got the support they deserve as the AHS Jungle roared back to life after mask mandates were lifted.

The Jungle is AHS’s school spirit section, a fun, high energy student section that has made their presence known this past winter. While the Jungle is encouraged to attend as vast a variety of sports as they can, the greatest turnouts have been at boys and girls basketball games. The boys made it to the state semifinals and the girl’s made it all the way to the state championship, losing in a hard fought battle to Springfield Central.

“I hope the Jungle continues in the future,” said boys basketball coach David Fazio. “I hope we continue to be good in the coming years because the student body doesn’t want to come out and watch a team that is not very successful. It’s kind of like, we’ve got to do our part and be good and then I know our student body will follow us.”

Fazio describes the large presence of the student body at games as “the sixth man in basketball…it’s like we have an extra player on the court with our five players when we have the Jungle.” For this team, the energy, enthusiasm, relationships, friendships, and camaraderie is “second to none.”

COURTESY PHOTO / Lindsey Reeves
Jungle cheers on AHS boys basketball team during the February 3 game

Although COVID guidelines have relaxed, Athletic Director Bill Martin has worked closely with the administration, superintendent, and Board of Health in Andover to keep an eye on COVID cases in Andover. “The reduced attendance was set up as a temporary situation,” said Martin. “We were slowly able to open up to larger crowds with time and now, we are fully open with no masks.”

Boys basketball player Rohit Srinivasan noticed a large difference in the amount of fans and support at games this season. “As a team, we did a lot better this year so I feel like more people came…the more fans, more kids, the more energy in the Jungle reflected onto the court.” For Srinivasan, a core memory is the rival game against Central Catholic at home. “I got a steal, I got a layup, and the Jungle was just going crazy. I think that got the team pumping and they really helped the game,” stated Srivinvasan.

“We have a select few of very dedicated fans that come to every single game,” stated junior girls basketball player Kathleen Yates, including the jungle members and family members. Their support is felt throughout the team.

“The Jungle makes a big impact, especially in big games,” added senior captain Morgan Shirley. “If there is a student section for the other team but not yours, it can get in your head a bit, so the support of Andover fans adds a lot of energy.”

Last year, no fans were allowed at any games due to COVID restrictions, which made it difficult to get that support from the student section. “I feel bad for those five seniors who didn’t get the opportunity to play in front of great crowds at home,” recalled Fazio. “I mean, the only thing you could hear in the gym [last year] was me yelling at my players. There was nothing else that you could hear but the echo of my voice, so it has been so good to have the student body back for sure.”

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EDITORIAL: College Decisions Causing Stress

April 7, 2022

High school seniors across the world are currently having to grapple with a major decision that will play an important role in their further education. For some students, deciding where to go to college is simple; they have known their whole lives they are destined to go to this place, or they toured a specific school junior year and knew it was the one. Yet, for others, the choice can be quite stressful to map out.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been significant changes to the admissions process — specifically, the removal of the requirement for students to submit standardized testing scores. Since students did not have to submit scores, many decided to apply to more schools that might have originally been out of reach. As a result, universities this year have received record numbers in terms of applicants.

In addition, many universities over-accepted the Class of 2021 last year, therefore they are having to accept less students this year in order to restore their undergrad population.

All of these contributing factors have led to a stress overload for seniors. Students this year are facing unexpected rejections more often than before.

As it is expected the next few years will be impacted by the pandemic, there will continue to be a need for resources for the rising seniors. In the future, we hope to be able to find more accessible ways to connect with guidance counselors and access helpful, basic resources

that will outline exactly what rising seniors need to fill out with specific information. For example, seniors and their parents did not know what the CSS profile or FAFSA is or how to fill them out. Many students do not know what things we should be doing since freshman year to help make applying to colleges easier in the future.

We believe that having more time and meetings with guidance counselors since freshman year. These meetings can consist of figuring out what the student wants after high school and making sure they are on the right track for that. In addition, having a platform that students can access as early as ninth grade, with all the college information and checklists could truly help.

Editorials represent the opinion of the ANDOVERVIEW staff as a whole.

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COVID-19’s Impact on Extracurriculars

February 28, 2022

Naomi Bloom
STAFF WRITER

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many extracurricular activities throughout the year. However, due to the surge in cases after winter break, several extracurriculars have had to take extra precautions.

Since many families and friends gathered over winter break, COVID-19 cases spiked again, almost twice as many as the surge last winter. This is most likely due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The rise in cases combined with the prior accommodations made for the pandemic forced many extracurriculars to do more to keep students safe.

The Athletic Director of the Andover Public Schools district, Bill Martin, spoke on the impact that the surge in cases had on the district’s sports teams and their fans. “We have had most of our teams affected by the number of athletes and coaches that have been out due to COVID,” he said. To ensure that their teams wouldn’t have to miss any competitions, a few games were postponed.

Additionally, the number of fans allowed at games has decreased. However, Martin said that he was hoping that by the end of the winter season, there will be fewer COVID cases and that the regular amount of fans will be able to return to the games.

In some instances, extracurricular activities have had to withdraw from their programs. For example, the AHS Model United Nations club is no longer attending this year’s Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) conference. The conference was set to take place in person near the end of January, so the school’s delegates withdrew. Out of the thirty to fifty students at AHS that attend the HMUN meetings, fifteen delegates would have gone to the conference. Other delegates would have been coming from all around the world. Michael McCarthy, the teacher advisor for the program at AHS, said that he was worried about the possible spread of COVID there. “I had a lot of concerns about the delegates’ safety, so we withdrew our participation,” he said. “I was concerned that students would contract [COVID] and would be absent from school and would miss out… it’s a very large organization, and so with some kids out, they would miss out on a fun extracurricular opportunity.”

COURTESY PHOTO / Andover Robotics
What a normal in-person robotics meet in the AHS cafeteria looks like

The school’s robotics teams have also had to accommodate for the pandemic. Round one of the robotics tournament was going to be held in the AHS cafeteria in January, but because of the surge in cases, it was postponed. The competition in Canton was also postponed. “We’ll have ‘Practice Judging Days’ instead, which would be done remotely,” said Canyu Li, a freshman on team Thunder. Minda Reidy, the teacher advisor for the robotics program, said that was done “as a general cautionary.” She also noted that the schools of some other teams in the state were not allowed to travel, so several teams would have missed the meet. “We also put into consideration that we were asking a lot of people to be in tighter [quarters] than we should really with a big Omicron concern,” she added. Thankfully, though, the teams will still be able to take part in their Practice Judging Days and were able to host the tournament round in February.

In addition, the AHS math team was also impacted by the pandemic. While the school’s team was able to attend the meet that took place after winter break, some other teams were not able to. Dorothy Power, the teacher advisor for the team, was glad that the team could still make it to the competitions. “We were really fortunate that Mr. Darlington helped us find a way to travel beginning in January, and that all of our mathletes were healthy and could attend,” she said. These teachers and students are hoping that the pandemic will come to an end and their activities will be able to return to normal. “I’m hoping that this is the beginning of the end and that we can eventually—and probably soon—say goodbye to COVID in some way,” said McCarthy.

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Looking Back: APS Lack of Testing During Omicron Surge

February 28, 2022

Sonja Kruecker-Green
CORRESPONDENT

At a time in which COVID cases were skyrocketing in the state and school districts, one might have assumed that all students were being tested for COVID once identified as close contacts. But you would be wrong.

As was made quite clear at the January 6, 2022, APS School Committee meeting, the only students eligible for the Test to Stay program —a testing strategy that allows close contacts to stay in school by testing them at school for at least five consecutive days— were students who were unvaccinated and either less than 3 feet with a mask, or less than 6 feet without a mask, to a positive case. In other words, the unvaccinated close contacts were the only ones being tested at school. Vaccinated close contacts were told only to watch for symptoms and they could continue with their normal school activities untested.

This is surprising given that regardless of vaccination status, all students are at risk of being infected, especially with a more contagious variant that is capable of evading the immune defenses that vaccines have helped build. Moreover, until recently, students under 16 years of age were not eligible for a booster shot, putting them in an even more vulnerable position. Even many students who were already eligible for the booster had not yet been boosted.

This was problematic because with only a small minority of students in the high school eligible for the testing programs, the number of COVID cases in the schools was likely significantly higher than was reported, and many asymptomatic or very mild COVID cases were able to go to school, unaware of being COVID positive. This, in turn, inevitably resulted in more cases in our communities at large.

Why the lack of testing? The lack of testing availability in the schools likely stemmed from the supply chain issue impacting the country, general lack of preparedness with respect to producing enough test kits, but most importantly, a general lack of foresight and funding from the Massachusetts Government. An increased need for testing should have been anticipated and planned for well in advance of the spike in cases, yet the state did not manage to prepare for this.

COURTESY PHOTO / Adobe Stock
A COVID test, which APS has only provided to students who are unvaccinated and close contacts until recently

The state’s inability to respond to the COVID situation became even more apparent when tests were only made available to teachers two days before school restarted following the winter break. A clear plan was missing. Furthermore, it defied logic that these tests were ordered only for the teachers, and not for students who make up a far greater proportion of the population of the school.

Recently, DESE announced its decision to provide at-home tests to all students, after omicron cases had peaked. Expanding testing to all students should have been the plan weeks ago. Additionally, contact tracing at the high school has ended— a decision that might have been logical a few weeks ago given the lack of testing available as well as the high number of cases within the school and the difficulties in tracking down all contacts. However, now, with very few cases in the school, it would seem that contact tracing should be more feasible. Furthermore, with the mask mandate set to ease soon, it would be logical to restart this contact tracing.

The worst of the omicron surge is now behind us, but looking back there is a lot that could have been done to prevent many cases in the schools. If the state had been willing to fund more testing to begin with (or the town of Andover in the absence of that) we might have mitigated, to some extent, the spread of the infection in the schools and beyond.

What is important to remember is that although the vast majority of the vaccinated are well protected from severe disease, there are many that are not. When the health system is taxed to the degree that it has been, it means that elective procedures are postponed. Some may not realize that elective surgeries are not just hip replacements and knee surgery. They can include everything from surgeries to remove tumor metastases from organs to heart bypass surgery; surgeries that are vital in improving the life expectancy of very sick individuals. These surgeries can include anything that is not immediately life-threatening at the moment.

The state would do well to remember this, should we ever have to face another COVID surge. Overburdening our health care system impacts us all, and rigorous testing can help address the problem.

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Changes To Bus Schedules Cause AHS Community To Adapt

February 14, 2022

Anusha Sambangi

STAFF WRITER

From the beginning of the current school year, shifts in bus schedules and a shortage of bus drivers have led to changes in the activities and schedules of Andover High School students.

As early as September, AHS students who took the bus had been arriving late to school. Recently, morning bus schedules have improved, but now many buses have to combine routes or find substitute drivers to take students back home. As a result of the decline in available bus drivers, some clubs and after-school activities have had to make adaptations to regular club affairs.

AHS sophomore Megan Zhang uses the bus regularly and is a member of the math and science teams. “Usually the most fun part of the clubs [is] traveling, then meeting up with other people and enjoying the meets,” she said. However, with the shortage of buses and bus drivers, things are a little different. This year, she said that “[the math and science teams] haven’t been able to [travel] because of bus shortages.”

STAFF PHOTO / Anusha Sambangi
Students walk outside to board the afternoon bus

Cindy Button, the transportation manager for the Andover Public School district, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to several changes in bus schedules and routes this year. “Our transportation services, Trombly and North Reading Transit (NRT), have been experiencing staffing shortages since the start of the school year,” Button said. She explains that this isn’t just a challenge for Andover; the entire country is experiencing similar setbacks.

In addition to these shortages, Button mentioned other changes to schedules that have worsened the situation for many drivers. A few months ago, the School Committee voted to adjust start timings during the school year. Button believes that “ it is important for students and families to know that while Trombly services Andover Public Schools, they service private schools in town as well.” These private schools have different school day schedules compared to Andover Public Schools, which requires more adjustment from services like Trombly to take students to and from school.

“Trombly also services many additional cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley,” added Button. “This adds more logistics to providing service to all these students and families.”

Button states that the priority of our bus services is to find the most efficient way to get students to school and back home safely. “Trombly and NRT do their best to make sure all of our bus routes have coverage every day,” said Button. “We are hoping that as the pandemic subsides, things will smooth out and become more consistent for our families.”

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OPINION: Should Schools Be In-Person with COVID Surge?

February 14, 2022

Philippa Konow

STAFF WRITER

COVID-19, the modern-day plague, has ravaged this world for almost three years now. Schools across the country have repeatedly opened and closed throughout these years in an attempt to battle the virus. New mask mandates and lockdown policies are still being created every day to protect students and staff. This time of high anxiety and mental decline has caused many to question what the right steps are to get the pandemic under control, especially with the new variants evading almost everything we have.

With the most recent surge of COVID-19 popping up after this year’s winter break and sending hundreds of students and staff in the Andover Public Schools district into quarantine, many are wondering if being in school in person is safe. I recall friends, classmates, and myself asking a very common question: “Why are we still in school?” This was a question I continued to hear in every class and H-Block for weeks after the break. Why are schools still open?

The pandemic has been a big struggle for the science community. There have been so many questions and so few answers due to the ever-changing state of the virus. Alan Kalf, a science teacher at Andover High School, said that “as our knowledge of epidemiology and biology develops, it can be frustrating for people to see health and safety expectations change”—referring to the changing quarantine guidelines. “No solution is a perfect solution; all involve compromises, and the government and society have decided that the risks of spreading COVID-19 are worth the benefits of being in school,” Kalf stated.

While I am worried about the current pandemic surge, the idea of going back to remote schooling is one I strongly dislike. The emotional and mental toll it can take on both students and teachers is severe. “There are studies out there that have said depression rates are higher due to [COVID-19] and the isolation while at home,” stated AHS health teacher Holly Breen.

“I have already been isolated away from other people enough through the pandemic, and I don’t know if I could necessarily go through another hiatus without it taking a major toll on my school work and my mental health,” said one student. They aren’t the only ones who struggled during remote classes. “Keeping students isolated seems to have impeded some students’ emotional and social maturity,” said Kalf.

There are some solutions that could be implemented. One shared by many students is to better reinforce the rules in place. “It would [probably] be nice to start requiring the vaccine unless you can’t get it for medical reasons,” suggested Gabriel Lima, a senior at AHS. “The virus seems to spread the most during this time of year.”

“I’ve heard that two lunchrooms were a pain last year, but I think that having the entire school packed into one cafeteria while eating is probably causing a lot of issues as well, given that there’s not enough space to safely social distance with the mask off,” suggested Diya Ganesh, a junior.

I definitely agree with having multiple lunchrooms because having one-quarter of the school in the cafeteria is extremely crowded, with not enough space to socially distance.

“Across the country, I wish that schools had better funding, classes were smaller, hallways less crowded, and buildings in better condition to be as safe as possible,” said Kalf. Having a school that isn’t big enough for all of the students definitely increases the number of cases.

The most important thing to remember is that staying safe is a group effort. Everyone needs to take their part in battling this virus by getting vaccinated, wearing masks properly, and obeying the safety protocols and quarantine guidelines.