Galloway's Handling of COVID Pivots in New Year

The Galloway School confronted COVID aggressively, taking every precaution necessary to protect the community, ultimately ending the year with few cases and no large outbreaks. This school year, with vaccines being widely accessible, the student body stayed Covid-free for most of the first semester. Following a week-long break from school to celebrate Thanksgiving, Galloway detected the first COVID cases of the year. Even so, none of it was transmitted within the school; rather it showed up on the basketball court or at home. 

Since these cases came after a break where students traveled and were around large groups, it's no surprise that students  were exposed and/or contracted the virus itself. I talked to Mr. Foreman, the principal of Upper Learning, to see if there would be required testing when students returned from winter break to prevent students from bringing COVID to school again. He informed me the school was not going to require testing, but they “strongly encourage” anyone who has traveled to test before they come back on to campus. He explained that the testing would’ve had to occur the Friday before coming back, which would mean students had 3 days to be potentially exposed to the virus, making the test no longer valid. 

Before break he explained that testing has become much more accessible so they won't be having a service on campus. When I spoke to him again, following winter break, his answer changed. “We are pursuing the potential for community testing,” He said. “Right now, Dr. Calleroz White and Nurse Rohm are looking into options on how we can provide testing to you on campus.” He explained that the administration was not requiring testing or vaccinations because they don’t want to put someone in the position where they feel victimized and don’t get the education they are “frankly, paying for” because of religious obligations or family stance. 

A major reason that Galloway has been able to make it so far into the school year before anyone contracted COVID was because of the school's high vaccination rates. The high vaccination rates allowed the school to change certain safety measures that were in place last year. Before winter break, Mr. Foreman explained that knowing that 95% of Upper Learning and 96% of faculty and staff “allows [him] to feel a lot more comfortable loosening the safety parameters.”

Before the omicron variant, this allowed for students to come to school even after being exposed, meaning they wouldn’t have to stay home after they are in close contact with someone who is positive. This also allowed for students to feel more normal coming to school, especially now that Flik, the cafeteria, is open for seating and the school is slowly drifting back to normalcy. However, the omicron variant is highly transmissible and vaccinated people are still getting it. A sPfizer study showed that by having the booster shot, there is a better chance of combatting the virus. Although there is a high vaccination rate at Galloway, the booster shot only recently became available for 16 and 17 year olds, leaving many students without complete protection from this new variant. This is why, after break, the school returned back to some protocols that helped to keep the school safe last year. Assigned seats are in place to create an easy way to contact trace, masks are required outdoors as well as indoors, Town Hall is virtual for the time being, and spaces around the school are minimizing the amount of people allowed in at a time. 

Zoom was a big part of Galloway life last year. All year, students had the option to either Zoom from home or come to school in person, and sometimes Zoom would also be used for a couple of weeks at a time when students returned from break. When someone would test positive, they would still be able to attend their classes and wouldn’t be as behind as normal. This year, Zoom is only used as a short term learning platform for students in quarantine or isolation. Returning to school via Zoom for the start of this semester would have been a challenge. Last year, in order to make Hyflex learning work, teachers had to recreate the learning environment to fit the Zoom parameters. Students were given days off so teachers could prepare their lessons, and students had to come to school to pick up needed materials. Mr. Foreman explained that there is no time or ability to pivot in that way, especially because they “do not think that this is something that is going to be sustained for a longer duration.” The administration does not want to make teachers change lesson plans when, with the school’s high vaccination rates and how “it feels with omicron,” it may only last for six weeks at most. 

February is fast approaching and with that comes Galloway’s Homecoming dance. This is an event that many students have not been able to take part in because it didn’t occur last year. At first, Homecoming was going to occur like normal, with the exception of masks. The administration wants to keep the date of homecoming instead of postponing it but ask students to refrain from inviting dates from other schools “with the hopes that next year [we] can bring guests.” Although not the ideal situation, students can celebrate the fact homecoming is happening this year and can celebrate with friends. 

First semester, the stands of the Galloway gym were occupied with parents and students to cheer on the sports teams. This was a change from last year, when the only way to watch the game was to stream it. For the moment, the school is allowing spectators at games and audience members in the theater, but they are starting with immediate family members to see how it goes. 

As we go through January, the hope is for the rest of the year to return back to the way it was last semester and continue the path back to normalcy. Additionally, the school hopes to be in a position where there can potentially be mask-optional. 

By Caroline Cranman