With the new school year and mask mandate, the district has changed its policy for quarantining students, resulting in illogical and inconsistent guidelines.  

When a student tests positive, they will immediately be quarantined. Student affairs will call each of their teachers and ask if they wore their mask correctly in class. If yes, no one around them will have to be sent home. If no, the students within six feet of them will only be quarantined if they are unvaccinated or don’t wear a mask correctly.  

Because of this rule, teachers are expected to remember if each student wears their mask correctly all period, on top of grading, planning, etc. This seems highly unreasonable and most likely inaccurate. 

Some teachers, though, agree with the district. “If we know someone tested positive, we need to quarantine that person for sure,” Peter Nonnenkamp said. “I agree with the new system that if someone is wearing their mask correctly around the person who tests positive, they shouldn’t be quarantined.” 

The CDC has confirmed that fully vaccinated people who are infected can still transmit the virus to both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals. Even after this confirmation, Hillsborough County has decided that they still won’t quarantine everyone near the positive case. 

With a surge in cases starting last Monday, these new rules just aren’t cutting it. Some students agree that the HCPS policies are too inconsistent. “I don’t agree with the fact that unvaccinated people don’t have to quarantine if they’re wearing a mask since last year people had to quarantine no matter what, so it’s contradicting,” Sophomore Chloë Drown said. 

Since the first day of school, Plant has reported 73 total positive cases (as of Sept. 1). With numbers like this, the district needs to make up its mind on how they plan to keep students safe.