The absence apocalypse: Buena’s COVID spike
Aftermath of a variant. Since the end of winter break, it is clear that absences across the school have been unusually high. The reason for much of this change is unsurprisingly COVID-19 related. With the introduction of Omicron into the US, there has been an exponential increase in coronavirus cases, including here at Buena. This image shows the testing tent located outside of the nurse’s office. “In terms of the stress it’s causing, I am very concerned,” Saatjian said.
January 26, 2022
As cases of omicron skyrocket in the nation and around the world, Buena has begun to feel the effects. Confusion is rampant and answers are difficult to find, leaving students and staff in the dark.
The superintendent emailed updates to parents Jan. 5 regarding sports, testing, and continually changing quarantine requirements. They outline a reduction in crowds at indoor sports games to four people per athlete, disruptions in transportation services due to bus driver shortages, and at-home testing kit distribution.
In 28 years of teaching, I have never encountered this level of absences. The stress and concern is being able to give [students] make-up work, there’s a lot of factors that are hard to express, but this level of stress with absences is something I’ve never experienced before.
— Norma Saatjian
Along with these updates, as many students and staff have observed, there has been a significant increase in student absences following winter break. This is a trend that is being echoed in many school districts across the US.
“We have seen in the last two weeks, on any given day, about a quarter to a third of students absent,” assistant principal Tiffany Dyer said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that a quarter to a third of students have covid or close contacts, some of those students have families that are not comfortable sending their students to school.”
With these shifting regulations and an increase in absences, teachers are being pushed to accommodate students at home while continuing to teach those in person. To accomplish this, some teachers are now allowing students to log in with zoom, some are recording their classes, while others send out daily overviews of classwork.
Norma Saatjian, US history, AP US history, and Psychology teacher stated that she was disappointed by the fact that due to the “unprecedented” amount of absences she had to shift to recording her classes.
“In 28 years of teaching, I have never encountered this level of absences,” Saatjian said. “The stress and concern is being able to give them make-up work, there’s a lot of factors that are hard to express, but this level of stress with absences is something I’ve never experienced before.”
However, the challenges do not end there. Due to a substitute shortage, schools across the country have been struggling to get substitute teachers. Currently, the Ventura Unified School District has been able to handle the situation through enlisting teachers to cover classes along with traditional substitutes.
“I’ve covered six classes in eight days: six out of eight days they’ve been able to use me as a substitute,” Biology and AP Environmental Science teacher Michael Yorke said. “There are new regulations going into place about who can cover a class, and the district has been sending us substitutes, so even though there are a lot of teachers out, we have been able to cover it.”
The state of California has also made changes. New regulations put into place by Governor Gavin Newsom include allowing retired teachers to return with compensation, eliminating barriers, and issuing temporary certificates.
I wanted to make sure I was safe going back to school, because if I missed [any more] assignments it would take weeks to make it up
— Alec Gomez
As for students, the resurgence of Covid-19 cases increases the risk of having to miss school and important instructional time. With finals around the corner, an already tense period of the school year for many, it is crucial for students to devote time to their studies. However, students are now finding more things to be concerned about.
Noticing the decrease of students in her classes following the winter break, junior Jimena Alcala Valdez realized how serious things were beginning to look. Valdez is most worried about “missing lectures, especially in my AP classes.” Already having to prepare for finals, Valdez is now also troubled about the idea of getting sick and falling behind.
Alec Gomez, a junior who missed the first week of school after winter break due to contracting the virus, said he felt less prepared coming back. While being able to communicate with teachers by email, Gomez stated that he still felt like he was missing out on in-person lessons and projects.
Gomez was also happy to be back at school, worrying that if he continued to miss more days, his workload would continue to pile up. “I wanted to make sure I was safe going back to school,because if I missed [any more] assignments it would take weeks to make it up,” Gomez said.
Now seeing the decrease of his peers in most of his classes, Gomez feels like he can relate to other students currently absent.
Despite the growing fear surrounding these absences, the Buena community continues to prevail.
“We’re all living through this together,” Saatjian said.
