Student holiday gathering causes possible Covid-19 exposure
December 2, 2020
Over the recent Thanksgiving break, a group of high school students from Amador, Foothill, and Village attended a local social gathering, unknowingly spreading the Covid-19 virus.
“Students were obviously mad. Most of us have been staying home and doing what we’re supposed to do we can keep campus open and start playing sports again. It’s frustrating when others don’t follow the rules and we all have to lose out because of it,” said an AV athlete (‘21).
Unfortunately, because specific names are not known to the administration, the schools were forced to shut down their campuses until at least the end of the semester. For Amador, the means all in-person, voluntary camps that were previously hosted on campus are now shut down, to minimize the risk of the potential spread; this includes sport practices, music programs, and any other approved gathering that was previously on campus.
“[If anything,] I hope that these kids are able to motivate our community to better follow CDC guidelines so we can get back to ‘normal’,” said Anonymous, a FHS student.
AV principal Josh Butterfield officially released news of the event through an email to the school on November 30th, the Monday after the break.
The PUSD district made headlines with this occurrence, as it has already been covered by abc7 news, Kron 4 News, East Bay Times, and the Pleasanton Weekly.
Seniors have been especially vocal about the impacts of this scare.
It must be noted: while it is clear that the actions of the students involved were irresponsible, it is important to show compassion and empathy during these tough times. The situation is currently being contained by the administration; cyberbullying is taken very seriously at Amador, and will not be tolerated, regardless of the circumstances.
As AVHS Principal Josh Butterfield said in his message to the school: “Your choices to wear a mask when outside your house, to wash your hands frequently, and to not engage in close interactions with individuals outside of your family make us all safer.”
It’s important to make the right choices and remain mindful of the safety of others, and the consequences of your actions; you never know just how high risk someone can be until it’s too late.
To ensure the safety of our students, we have decided to keep all student names as ‘Anonymous.’
Shashwat Shrivastav • Jun 17, 2021 at 6:40 pm
Hey Soumya, my name is Shashwat Shrivastav and I just wanted to say something. I went to Amador Valley High School when I was a freshman and sophomore, but I did not go to Amador last year because I attended another school called Futures Academy, which is a private school in Pleasanton. However, I really liked Amador Valley High School for a couple of reasons. One reason why I liked Amador Valley High School is because I had a lot of best friends when I was a freshman and sophomore and I really miss them a lot because I don’t get to see them anymore, which is why I can’t wait to graduate from high school and go to college. Another reason why I liked Amador Valley High School is because the teachers were really nice and didn’t give a lot of homework. Finally, I liked Amador Valley High School because I got to do summer school when I was a freshman. In fact, I did health in summer school when I was a freshman at Amador Valley High School because I failed health and I wanted to get a better grade in health. Also, I am pretty sure you did not know this, but my new school, Futures Academy, got shut down last year on March 13th, 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, I was very frustrated when my school, Futures Academy, got shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic because I really liked going to school in person. But the good news is that Futures Academy reopened last year in October and I got to go to school in person for 2 days a week, so I went to school in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, the bad news is that Futures Academy shut down again this year in January and they didn’t reopen until February. Also, I am now in 11th grade and I am still attending Futures Academy, and I really like this school because it is very different from a public school. For example, at Futures Academy, they do 1:1 instruction, which means there is 1 teacher and 1 student per classroom, and I like 1:1 instruction because that way, I can get a lot of support from my teacher. Another reason why I like Futures Academy is because the people are very nice and there is no bullying. By the way, I am pretty sure you didn’t know this, but I moved to Texas this year in February because my dad’s job was transferred to Austin, which is the capital of Texas. Also, my dad is a computer engineer who works for a company called Oracle. But, overall, I don’t really like Austin because in my opinion, California is the best state in the world and my favorite city in California is Pleasanton. In fact, I moved to Pleasanton when I was in 3rd grade and I went to Mohr Elementary School. Then, when I graduated from Mohr Elementary School, I went to Harvest Park Middle School. By the way, I just wanted to tell you something. You know how I am still attending Futures Academy. Well, guess what? I am attending my classes online since I cannot go to school in person. Also, I am pretty sure I never told you this, but Futures Academy also does summer school, just
jordyn • Dec 2, 2020 at 9:11 pm
don’t you think this is a bit much? these kids already feel terrible for spreading covid, on top of that they physically feel terrible because they have covid. you really think publishing an article saying how bad of people they are is going to help? i understand how awful it is to get your sports taken away, i lost my entire lacrosse season. Although putting people down for something they already feel bad about is not going to get rid of covid & bring back these sports.
Soumya Sahay • Dec 3, 2020 at 7:15 am
While our purpose as a news organization is to cover any and all Amador-related events, I understand your frustration. The intention behind this article was to inform others of the occurrence, especially those who do not receive the principal’s emails. It was never to put down the students involved, and we do not condone cyberbullying in any way. However, their actions caused an impact on the school, and we felt as a team that it was important to cover on our website.
anonymous • Dec 2, 2020 at 10:23 am
Everyone on here was just being a bully. Everything was blown out of proportion. And first of all the CIF cancelled all high school sports until jan 1st so all sports at Amador would have be cancelled anyways. Second of all we weren’t going back to school anyways.