The school year is fully underway but questions remain around COVID-19. It seems that Gabrielino High School, like the rest of the world, has moved on from the pandemic, holding indoor assemblies for the first time in almost three years. However, with COVID-19 still being a menace, the school should avoid indoor gatherings and instead, look for safer alternatives to bring the community together.

   On Aug. 19, a school-wide assembly was held in the gym to give information on the Wellness Center. A little over one week later, from Aug. 29 – Sept. 2, Gabrielino reported 11 new COVID-19 cases to the district, according to the Health Office. This prompted the school to call for a five-day mask mandate for everyone in the gym.

   The assembly was a blemish on what was an overall smooth start to the year. While the information on the Wellness Center was important, it could have easily been delivered during Embedded Time- which happened anyway due to a technical malfunction during the assembly. That way, student and staff health would not have been put at risk.

   On Sept. 13, the district called for a Social Media Awareness assembly in the Gary Goodson Theater. While it was only English classes who went each period rather than the entire school at the same time, there were still approximately 200 people in each session. That is too many people indoors right next to each other.

   Although the pandemic feels over, this sentiment is not completely true. According to COVID19.CA.gov, California’s official government website for COVID-19, the average number of cases per day in the state is still 6,338.

   Obviously, it is not necessary for the school to stop classes or even reissue the mask mandate, but it would be naive to believe that COVID-19 does not affect people at Gabrielino.

   In fact, Gabrielino possesses the highest percentage of positive COVID-19 cases relative to school population in the district. According to the San Gabriel Unified School District (SGUSD) COVID-19 Dashboard, as of Sept. 12, the 19 positive student and three positive staff cases make up 1.3 percent of the school’s population. No other school in the district surpasses the 1 percent threshold.

   In order to prevent COVID-19 from further spreading on campus, school and district administration must more carefully consider the health and safety of all parties at Gabrielino when planning assemblies. If the administration wants to bring everyone together to form a sense of community, then having a gathering outdoors, whether it be in the quad, on the field, or in the bleachers, could make all the difference in whether or not cases of COVID-19 appear afterwards.

   If a more cautious approach is desired, then Embedded Time can be utilized as a way to broadcast information to single classes of 28 students. Multiple videos have already been shown during Embedded Time. An assembly would be no different.

   With an abundance of solutions, there is no reason why an all-school, indoor assembly should occur again this year, at least not until COVID-19 has been eradicated for all intents and purposes. While community gatherings are vital to our school culture, the health and safety of both students and staff should always be the priority.