Students ignore COVID safety precautions at local high school
Melany Velasco/THUNDERWORD
Some students at Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way say they don’t feel safe because of COVID concerns.
Students at a local high school are not adhering to COVID safety precautions despite the school district’s stated rules.
On a typical day at Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, students are packed into hallways, some masked, some not. In classrooms, where students are supposed to sit three feet apart, instead they sit elbow-to-elbow, three and four at a time at tables. Again, some are masked; some masks are pulled down, and some students are maskless.
At best, teachers in the classrooms will ask students to wear a mask or wear one properly, but if the student does not comply, no further action is taken. Some teachers don’t say anything.
Some students say they don’t feel safe anymore at Beamer.
“I absolutely don’t feel safe coming to school,” said Joy Lupambo, a student there.
“A lot of students don’t even wear their masks correctly and it’s gone to the point where you can even see multiple joke accounts of people, not one-third wearing their masks correctly and the teachers and staff in the hallway almost never stop these people too. I’ve seen students casually walk with their mask only covering their mouth or no mask at all,” they said.
“There’s almost zero to no social distancing,” Lupambo said. “You have to push and shove your way through the hallways just to go to class on time and they haven’t even extended the time it takes for you to go there. I wish they could have done with the help of social
distancing in the halls to make it a safer environment.”
“At Todd Beamer, there is literally no social distancing at all,” said Jovan Fernandez, another Beamer student.
“Someone’s hair was literally brushing on my arm for a few seconds while I was walking to a class,” he said. “Every day, my face is about 4 inches away from someone’s neck while I’m walking the halls. It feels so congested and looks like a swarm of bees or a school of fish. There is definitely not 6-foot social distancing happening at this school between students, during passing periods, dismissal times, or in the hallways. I see no efforts of the school enforcing social distancing.”
“The number of students I’ve seen not wearing masks correctly has increased a lot. I’ve seen this one particular student that doesn’t even have a mask while walking the hallways,” Fernandez said.
Honey Milne, another student, said “I only see students not wearing their masks correctly. The staff and teachers have them on correctly.”
Candace Nye, another student, said COVID safety protocols are taken seriously for after-school sports. Nye competes in volleyball, basketball and track.
She said that Beamer athletes have to do a COVID test every two days. But she also said that punishments for students who don’t wear their masks at all, or correctly, aren’t steep enough.
Punishments for students who don’t wear masks correctly or don’t wear masks at all are just a brief warning and reminder. Often this brief warning and reminder doesn’t even take place. Another punishment is a student getting sent home, which never happens.
Neither district officials nor school administrators responded to requests for an interview.
Dr. Jennifer Jones, a Highline professor and school board member, said the district takes COVID safety seriously.
“Federal Way School District is working to mitigate transmission by following the COVID-19 guidelines of the Washington state Department of Health,” she said. “The principal of each school is responsible for making sure that COVID-19 that the protocols are being followed. Clearly, there are going to be some students who need to be reminded of the rules.”
Some teachers at the school declined to talk about the issue, but one said that there is a problem.
“Every day there are at least one or two students per class who don’t wear their masks correctly,” said the teacher, who declined to be named. “I have 30-25 students per class. The school disclosed that some staff members got COVID. The school isn’t enforcing any social distancing.”
“There are quite a few students who don’t wear their masks correctly,” said another teacher.
Students report multiple teachers out sick with COVID.
“There’s been some teachers and some staff that have gotten COVID,” one teacher said.
Health experts say not wearing a mask – and not maintaining social distancing – greatly increases one’s chances of contracting COVID.
The virus is chiefly spread by droplets suspended in a person’s breath, which are easily inhaled if you’re not masked and/or are standing too close to someone. Masks alone cut the risk of contracting COVID by 65 percent, according to research conducted by Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital in California.
Washington state generally requires masking in public settings. At Highline, students, faculty and staff are encouraged to maintain social distancing, and masks are required inside any building on campus.