A Standing Ovation for Our Safety Helpers
Being one of the few schools to reopen during COVID-19, our faculty and staff, trained in safety precautions to help students follow the necessary safety procedures. Several new support staff were hired to handle the extra duties involved with the pick-ups, drop-offs, and maintaining social distancing.
January 25, 2021
“When we communicate with each other clearly and respectfully, we end up with better results all around. We all know how lucky we are to be on campus together, and we’re all on the same team in regards to respecting that and doing our part.”
Blake Dorfman
James Savage is one of our new Campus Safety Assistants (CSAs). The CSA’s job is to enforce the COVID-19 regulations. He and his fellow staff are role models on how to act during this pandemic and follow the safety protocols.
How do you help out around campus when it comes to the new safety regulations?
“Regarding the new COVID-19 precautions, my first duty of a typical day is the morning check-in which involves me, other CSA’s, and also some of your teachers confirming that all students have completed the daily health survey, that you have a normal temperature, and that you wash your hands before stepping onto campus.
Another main duty of ours comes in between classes, where we enforce the standard six-foot social distance rule along with looking out for students who are not wearing their masks properly.
We continue to enforce these rules when in classrooms throughout the school day. Lunch is essentially the same where we will enforce the six foot rule.
However, during lunch we need to be more vigilant as this is the time where students have to remove their masks to eat lunch and so is easily the time of day where any threat of transmission of the virus is most likely. (So if it seems like we are the most annoying at lunch time, that is why.)”
How would you say students are following the safety protocols? Are they following them?
“Students, for the most part, are fairly good about following the COVID safety protocols. However, it is very much the case that many students require several reminders throughout the day in order to follow these protocols. (I could certainly do with less sass from students.)”
What would you change or add to the safety guidelines?
“I would say that the safety protocols are more or less perfect the way they are. I think the way to improve upon them is through cooperation and understanding between all Laguna Blanca students and all Laguna Blanca staff. I think it would be nice to regularly remind everyone of why we all ought to be following these rules in the first place: to prevent the preventable deaths of classmates, staff, loved-ones, and all of our other fellow human beings.”
Blake Dorfman, Director of Student Life helps enforce the COVID-19 regulations by checking students’ temperatures at drop-off and pick-ups, and supervising the ninth graders at lunchtime to make sure everyone is social distancing.
What are the challenges with students during lunch? Are they staying 6 feet apart?
“I have been with 9th graders during lunch all year, and they have done an excellent job. It took constant reminding for the first couple of weeks in Ruston, but it’s improved greatly. We also recently moved the freshmen down to the field for lunch, which has provided much more space. We are very, very fortunate to have so much outdoor space available to us on our campus.”
What would you change or add to the safety guidelines?
“Well, I know the blue arrows on the ground have been tricky to follow. Quite honestly, outside of the most hectic times of the day when students are all moving from place-to-place, they don’t serve much of a purpose. With that said, they are part of our agreement to remain open and we need to respect that.”
How would you say students are following the safety protocols?
“I’m very proud of how our Upper School community has been following protocols. Human nature leads to inevitable moments where we leave a mask down for a second or sit too close to someone, but everyone has worked together to create an environment where those things are fixed quickly.
One reason I think students are doing such a good job following the protocols is because at Laguna we put trust in our students’ character and they respond in kind.
When we communicate with each other clearly and respectfully, we end up with better results all around. We all know how lucky we are to be on campus together, and we’re all on the same team in regards to respecting that and doing our part.”
Zaire Paredes-Villegas, ‘17, is one of our new campus assistants. Along with the CSAs and other campus assistants, she assists classes and enforces safety protocols around campus.
How do you help out around campus when it comes to the new safety regulations?
“My responsibilities as of now have consisted of stepping in where I am needed, which recently has been substituting or assisting in classrooms, specifically for the middle school. I try to enforce the distancing and mask regulations as much as possible, as it’s a tad harder with highly energetic 5th graders.”
How would you say students are following the safety protocols? Are they following them?
“For the most part, the students are very good about following protocols and just sometimes need a reminder when they are having too much fun.”
What would you change or add to the safety guidelines?
“My responsibilities as of now have consisted of stepping in where I am needed, which recently has been substituting or assisting in classrooms, specifically for the middle school.
I try to enforce the distancing and mask regulations as much as possible, as it’s a tad harder with highly energetic 5th graders.”
“I am grateful for the Laguna Blanca staff for being so helpful, from the first day of school when I didn’t know where to wash my hands, to now, continually helping me as feel comfortable as possible, even with masks on,” said eighth-grader Dionne Peterson
