Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have grown accustomed to seeing other people wearing a face mask throughout the entire day, both inside and outside of school. One of the most well-known policies at the American School of Barcelona is that all staff and students in grades 1 and up are required to wear their masks at all times except during lunch or while participating in sports activities. Most recently, however, rules have further changed and masks are no longer mandatory while outside.
I interviewed three students to understand how they feel about ASB’s handling of this tricky situation, as guidance from government officials and local health agencies continue to change as they learn more about the original virus and new variants.
“I think at ASB a large majority of students respectfully follow the restrictions. The school does its best to make reasonable rules that follow the government restrictions while also keeping in mind the wants and needs of students,” stated a junior. Another student noted, “I think for such a big school, the ASB COVID team clearly puts a lot of effort into making sure that everybody stays as safe as possible.”
In addition to giving positive feedback about ASB’s current rules, these students also had a few critiques and ideas on how to improve our current COVID guidelines.
“I do see some continuity issues when it comes to some areas. For example, in after-school sports, you are allowed to participate without a mask on, but in the Spotlight Program, even when we are dancing and singing at the same time we have to keep them on.”
“It can get confusing as to what the restrictions are since reinforcement can feel varied,” stated another student. “I think in order to have a smoother protocol as well as making the reinforcement easier on staff, the administration needs to better communicate with the students about what needs to be done.”
I believe that ASB has done an admirable job handling this situation. We have been able to continue having in-person schooling and control the number of cases without constantly having to be quarantined and avoid a major spread of the virus throughout the entire school. Also, and most importantly, I feel safe coming to school.
In order to make ASB safer for both students and staff members, we need to be able to work together to modify the current guidelines that we have to make sure we understand the impact of our actions in and out of our school.