The Story
BHS is in utter chaos after a surge in positive cases this last week and a half. Honestly, we’re still in shock.
More Covid?
Yep. Loads more. As most of you probably know, we had a (cue the spooky music) outbreak at BHS last week. Almost 40 students tested positive and two classrooms were deemed “cluster classrooms” – three or more individuals confirmed with COVID who are part of a related group who had the potential to transmit infection through close contact. RIP to Mr. Garrity’s R1 Law & Ethics class and Mr. Zeller’s S1 French class.
So what does that mean?
The district’s new COVID policies for this year call for pretty typical operation – no school or district-wide mask mandate, no vaccine requirement, and no remote option. Any students in the two cluster classrooms are required to wear masks inside during school, including after school activities, until Friday, October 1st. Jozo is highly recommending all students wear masks buuut he can’t mandate it.
Absences?
Left and right. Kids are leaving school to get covid testing, or are quarantining for 10 days because of a positive test. This is causing a strain to students because there is no remote option this year, and therefore no way for them to keep up while missing 10 days of school. Mr. Jozokos sent out an email in an attempt to reassure students that BHS will be “flexible” with regards to excused absences this year to COVID related issues, but that doesn’t solve the problem of missing in-class instruction. And with it being so early in the year, a few missing grades in PowerSchool can be the difference between passing and failing a class.
So what comes next?
Unfortunately, Runaway Bulldog does not have a crystal ball (we should look into that though…), and therefore we aren’t sure. What we do know is that there are rumors of the school board members receiving a LOT of angry emails from parents who are worried about the safety of their children. Well, well, well how the turn tables – we’ve appeared to come (somewhat) full circle since that insane school board meeting a month ago.
The Runaway
A year and a half later and we’re still not sure what our future looks like in regards to COVID. Stay tuned, and don’t get rid of all your masks just yet.
What to Say…
When you feel like a Yankees fan at Fenway Park…
Last Friday night, the varsity football team brought home a definitive victory over Portsmouth High School at their first home game of the season. The final score was 29-0 and their student section was less than pleased. While the BHS band was on the field, we heard reports of the student section screaming insults such as “You suck!”, “Get off the field!”, and “You can’t play music!”. While it was disappointing to hear that this was their treatment of the away team, it’s even more disappointing to report that they were equally as hostile towards their own band. In a display of frustration, the entire Portsmouth student section cleared out before the end of the fourth quarter and Bedford proceeded to score another touchdown. You show ‘em, guys. We guess the shirtless boys with letters painted on their chests were not the right kind of spirit to cheer on their team. And we can only imagine the beratement the football players will undergo at school this week. Sounds like every high school coming-of-age movie ever. On the other hand, Bedford’s student section at our first home game on the 10th was a much more commendatory display of school spirit. It was completely packed with students dressed in all black, the giant stuffed fish was thrown around throughout the game, and it ended in the typical throwing of baby powder at the final buzzer (who knows where this tradition came from??). Shoutout to Toufic Shoukier and Sydney Suozzo for fostering that positive environment.
When you gotta get those Democracy In Action hours…
This past week in Bedford, there were 2 special elections. The first election was that of Catherine Rombeau vs Linda Camarota for who would fill the spot of representative for the town Bedord. Rombeau, a democrat, came out on top by a mere 37 votes, which means for the first time Bedford now has 2 of its 7 reps as Democrats. The Republicans called for a recount, but Rombeau’s victory held strong. The other election was for the class of 2025 to choose the people who would decide the fate of their freshman year – student council (dun dun dunnn). Out of the 4 candidates running for President, Talya Baskin came out on top. Colton Weidner took the spot of Vice President, Kathryn French secured Chief Entertainment Officer, and Evelyn Doogue won Senator. Running unopposed, Kaylee Mangiafico became the Fundraising Coordinator and Leah Cook became the Public Relations Director. And finally, the person elected for the position of Officer at Large is… no one! The Officer at Large is a position that allows the elected person to have the same rights as all the other members of the council but without the responsibility that comes with all other positions but we guess no one in the class of 2025 wanted that.
When you like other sports too…
Although it may not seem like it at times, football isn’t the only sport at BHS. Boys and girls varsity crew row row rowed their way to two 10th place finishes (out of 30) at the CRI Fall Classic Regatta on Saturday and field hockey kept their near perfect record after beating Salem decisively. Volleyball has thrashed all of its opponents thus far, and girls soccer continued their undefeated season in a nail biting 3-3 finish against Exeter after a penalty kick by Abby Forester. Despite the girls success, their male counterparts flopped against Nashua North with a 0-1 loss. They will have a chance to redeem themselves Thursday against Concord, but their goalless season has unfortunately continued. Maybe they should try golf, where the goal is to score as few points as possible. Speaking of which, the golf team’s record remains strong. Volleyball and girls soccer both have upcoming home games, but if you’re craving your weekly fix of high schoolers tackling each other, you’ll either have to drive to Goffstown or wait until October. Choose wisely. Oh and if you’re hooked on bass fishing results, don’t get your hopes up. We got nothing so far.
Things to Know
Make a decision!
The level change deadline is this Friday, September 24th.
If you’ve caught the representation bug…
Jozokos is looking for student volunteers to join various committees.