On Sept. 7, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School returned to in-person instruction after 18 months of virtual school. Despite the school’s attempt to follow COVID-19 safety precautions, many cases have been reported. The district keeps a case count on their website to keep everyone aware.

The students at JFKMHS believe that the spread of COVID-19 is a result of many different circumstances.

“People are not vaccinated, and [some] parents are not allowing their kids to be vaccinated. People are not wearing their masks properly or following safety precautions,”  Sophomore Nuha Hamza states.

The Woodbridge Township School District website keeps a count of the cases reported per day for every school in the district. As of Dec. 20, the case count reports that JFK has had 46 student cases, and seven faculty cases over the past four months.  

The township saw a significant spike in cases during Thanksgiving break. On Nov. 24, the day before break started, there were a total of three reported cases in the district. On Monday, Nov. 29, the day students returned from break, the total of the cases spiked to 24; which was the highest daily case count recorded since the school year started. However, on Monday, Dec. 20, the daily case count jumped to 73, more than doubling the district’s previous record of 33.

The week of Dec. 13 reported the district having a total of 117 positive Covid cases.

When asked if the school is taking sufficient precautions, many students and teachers expressed their mixed emotions on the subject.  Many rooms, such as the business classes, work at tables with desktop computers, which make it very difficult to properly social distance.

“I don’t think the school is doing a good job, but at the same time it’s out of their power if students listen or not. I think most of the cases are caused outside of school,” an anonymous student says.

Even as cases continue to occur, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School continues to regulate mandatory mask wearing and enforce a more distanced lunch with their new five-lunch schedule. JFK’s school nurse, Ms. Buettel, states that our school has more than half of the student body vaccinated, which is more than other districts in the state. 

Vaccinated students who have been exposed to an individual who tested positive have no quarantine requirement and don’t have to be tested. Students who are unvaccinated, on the other hand, must quarantine for a minimum of seven days and provide documentation of a negative PCR test between day five and day seven to return back to school.

Many classes have even relocated to larger classrooms to meet the social distancing guidelines.