Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine was recently approved for ages 5-11, allowing sixth graders at Northwest Academy to get inoculated. This approval will increase the school’s vaccination rate, potentially enabling certain safety measures to be lifted.
Sixth grade classes are conducted separately from other grade levels in the middle school. Traditionally mixed grade classes such as math and language are split into two— one for sixth grade and one for the rest of the middle school. During lunch, when students are forced to unmask, they social distance by six feet and sit facing the same way.
Because the majority of them are unvaccinated, sixth grade students are tested weekly with a PCR spit test. All students and faculty wear masks and maintain three feet of distance at all times on campus except for lunch and when alone.
Sharon Weir, Covid Coordinator, is optimistic about what vaccinating the sixth grade means for safety protocol.
“It’s middle school and they want to be doing the middle school thing, but they also understand and they’re really excited right now,” said Weir, who also teaches Project Citizen for seventh grade. “This Monday the kids were like, ‘Oh my gosh I got my shot this weekend!’ or ‘I have my shot next week!’”
Weir said that the school is hoping to loosen some safety policies in the future, once the majority of sixth graders are vaccinated.
“A lot of things are on the table,” said Weir. “Probably not mask-wearing sadly— I don’t think that’s going anywhere as long as it’s cold and flu season. But we’re looking at a lot of things: using lockers, having those mixed grade classes come back together, possibly having mixed lunches.”
Weir emphasized that nothing is certain at this point.
“You have to make four backup plans,” she said. “A backup plan for the backup plan for the backup plan.”
Ariel Williams, art teacher for the middle school, said that any changes in the classroom are up to the school. Her art class has met with challenges in group work since distance has to be maintained between students.
“I was kind of assuming it would stay this way for the whole year,” said Williams, referring to the safety measures in her class. “It’s not the worst case scenario, but it would be exciting if there were some changes,” she said.
Since the beginning of the school year, sixth grade families have had concerns about their students attending school while unvaccinated. Anthony C., a sixth grader, has been looking forward to getting his vaccine as soon as possible.
“My family knows that it takes some time, but they know that it’s a better idea to get vaccinated— not only for school but also for us as a family,” he said, adding that he feels safer now, knowing that soon he’ll be protected by the vaccine.
Ava G., another sixth grader, said that her family was assured by the school’s safety measures.
“We knew the school was doing a good job of keeping us safe, but I wanted to get vaccinated as soon as possible because it’s a step closer to being normal,” she said.
Another student, Josie T., said she was looking forward to feeling safer at school after inoculation.
“I actually have my appointment right after school today,” she said. “It’s been a lot less stressful knowing that I’m going to be safe.”
The school’s safety measures have proven effective even in the unvaccinated population. Margaret W., another sixth grader and child of Sharon Weir, said that they and their peers were coping well with safety protocol.
“Sometimes we need to get reminded about the three feet and six feet, but it’s working pretty well,” they said.
Revan Williams, who teaches sixth and eighth grade social studies, agrees that safety protocol has been surprisingly effective in the middle school.
“I was anticipating some more difficulties but I think they got used to them going back to school last year,” said Williams.
The recent emergence of the Omicron variant further complicates the future of Covid safety at Northwest Academy, but vaccine eligibility for all students is an important step.
Reporting by Kamea Morita and Shambhava Srikanth
Photo by Eric Mellor
