The new morning policy at WHS has students staying in the gym from when they arrive at school until 8:15 a.m.
On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 25, students were met with a surprise. Instead of being allowed to talk with friends in the Commons in the mornings until class started, administrators instructed students to go to the gym from when they arrived to 8:15 a.m.
Administration has cited this transition as a return to the pre-COVID structure that supports administrators and teachers to monitor students in the morning.
"What we're doing is reverting back to pre-COVID structure," said WHS Principal Dr. Chris Blanton. "Anybody that gets here [early] is going to the gym and [will] stay in there until 8:15, [when] students are released from the gym to go to their classes."
Blanton cited a desire to return to the pre-COVID structure and maintain student safety within the building as reasons for introducing the new morning policy. Unlike the Commons area, the gym provides teachers and administrators easier access to monitoring student activity and safety in the mornings.
"[It's] a place where we can put students [to] supervise them a little bit better," said Blanton. "That's ultimately what it boils down to."
After a few days of the gym policy being enforced, Blanton is confident that the policy will be a permanent addition to student life at WHS.
“We know that this isn't the perfect solution, but it is probably a better solution than what we had," said Blanton.
Students had concerns about the ability to attend club meetings and other extracurricular activities in the mornings with the introduction of the new morning policy. Blanton said students won't face any interference with their clubs and activities.
"We still want club meetings to take place," said Blanton. "What we need is just for teachers to let students know that when they have a club meeting and they'll operate business as usual that way."
With the rampant spread of the flu and lingering COVID cases, students dislike the morning policy because of the transmission of illness in close quarters in the gym.
"They had everyone crammed in [the gym]. I could feel everyone's breath on me," said senior Kyle Hollars. "It's flu season. I was pretty unhappy."
Blanton acknowledged that the spread of illness was a valid concern and assured that steps were being taken to address these concerns.
"What I've asked the administrators and the teachers to do in there is if it looks like this is going to be too crowded and unsafe from a virus transmission kind of perspective, we need to then think about opening the other side of the bleachers and having the two sides of the bleachers open,” said Blanton.
While the policy will help administrators and teachers better monitor students in the mornings, some students feel the policy is too restrictive.
"I use the mornings to ask all my AP teachers if I need help with anything or to go around talking to teachers about college apps," said senior Sulli McAulay. "To be told I need to go to the gym and herded like cattle just feels really unnecessary."
Jackson Anderson contributed to reporting.
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