Throughout the year, many of the staff members at Judson have been able to adjust to COVID-19, taking safety measures to keep themselves and everyone else at the school safe which has helped tremendously. Although COVID is still an issue in the community, Judson’s staff members have done well to reduce the virus from spreading among themselves and the students.

it has been a time for serious uncertainty, requiring quick thinking and perseverance as the entire student body shifted to online learning. When students returned to campus, it might have been a little welcoming and a feeling of relief, but there was still an unsettling feeling with the virus spreading.

The pandemic has highlighted that our teachers, coaches, custodians, child nutrition staff, and nurse’s staff all deserve recognition. We see that there aren’t as many students attending classes as usual but as we slowly progress to regular face-to-face instruction, by keeping everyone safe and following all necessary guidelines to get back to normal, all their hard work has been really paying off.

“When it comes to feeding students for breakfast and lunch, it has been a little different since the pandemic,” Ms.  Vanessa Acosta said. “We must wear gloves at all times when handling the food and constantly change them out for new ones. We are required to wear our masks at all times, and sanitize everything before and after we serve food to the students. Normally students have more than one option to choose what they wanna eat. But this year, we can only choose for them and only serve one option of food because of safety reasons.”

Everyone has played an important role. In order to keep the school open, they must do whatever it takes to keep allowing students to continue face-to-face instructions. 

“Assessing students has been my number one priority during this pandemic – seeing if they have any symptoms related to COVID-19,” school nurse Yvette Huizar said. “We’ve had so many changes and confusion during this year. But I think we have a good administrator who backs the nurses. We assess our students outside our door. If they do have any symptoms they are sent straight into an isolation room and sent home immediately. I believe that’s why we have very few outbreaks and have kept many students safe.”

The staff are not only making sure students are safe, they are making sure that the students are comfortable and able to communicate as best as possible.

“I keep an open-door policy where students can come in and communicate with me with any problem or concern they may have. I believe that building strong relationships with the students and making them feel comfortable is important during times of crisis,” U.S history teacher Rashaan Kennamoore said.

The pandemic has caused a lot of problems for everyone, that’s why so many teachers at Judson feel like it is important to check in on the students. Many of them make sure or ask what is going on with the student’s life, making sure if they are okay, that they have everything they need, or if they are going through some challenges, that the student may feel comfortable discussing with their teacher.

“We’ve done temperature checks and online COVID checks, making sure my students are safe. But I think the number one thing has been interacting personally, especially with my team,” swim coach Ryan Murphy said. “That doesn’t just mean in person, but checking in online or through texts. So much of what is going on with each of us gets lost because we don’t see each other regularly. It’s important to keep those communication lines open.”

Communicating and making sure students are safe is the most important thing with or without the pandemic.

The staff members at Judson have done an excellent job this school year, making sure they sanitize every day, have their masks on, and keeping their distance as much as possible. As long as they follow all the safety measures and guidelines, slowly but surely things are getting back to normal.

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