NEWS
Hawkeye
FEBRUARY 2022 | 7
Instagram accounts set bad precedent By Ritika Khanal CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Today, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms among students, and in recent months, over 20 accounts have been created with the school’s name in front of them. Examples include mthsassparking, mths.posture and mths.shlumped. As the name suggests, the account titled mthsassparking is filled with pictures of cars in the MTHS parking lot that the account owners have deemed ”ass parking.” Similarly, the mths.posture account features students and staff who account owners deem to have “bad posture.” These specific accounts began to surface in late September, and as the months went by, more and more were created. Instagram is widely used by MTHS students, and many are aware of the multiple accounts. Some students find the ever growing list of accounts to be amusing, while others feel that some of the accounts have gone overboard and are detracting from the community’s culture as a whole. “I think the bunch of MTHS accounts can be funny, but they pose a lot of privacy issues,” senior Lavinia Simkowiak said. “Posting pictures of people online without their knowledge or consent is a huge privacy violation, especially when it’s kids.” In addition to the accounts posting pictures of bad posture and “ass parking,” yet another, under the name of mths. masklackers, features students and staff alike with masks worn below their noses or with masks off entirely. Still another, under the name mths.shlumped, features photos of students who have fallen asleep in class.
“Sometimes, I stay up far too late reading and then accidentally fall asleep in class,” senior Mackenzie Kier said. “I’d like to not be afraid of showing up on an Instagram page.” Kier said that she finds some of the Instagram pages to be amusing. For example, she finds the masklackers page does a good job of highlighting the kids that do not know how to put their masks on properly.
KAITLYN MILLER | HAWKEYE
“I do like the masklackers one, though,” she said. “The number of kids who can’t seem to wear their mask properly is infuriating, and they 100 percent deserve to be called out.” However, Kier finds some of the accounts extremely unnecessary, and in some cases, harmful. One of the accounts that was created that she dislikes the most is one entitled mthsbathroomfeet. As the name suggests, this account literally features pictures of what can be seen of a student’s feet
through the gap of stall doors. “I already have a fear of using public restrooms and try to avoid them as much as possible, but if I must use one, I’d like to not have my feet posted on social media,” she said. Another account, titled mths.confessions_, has also caused a lot of controversy. On the account, confessions from various students are posted, usually about crushes and relationship challenges. However, specific names are mentioned; A student might point out that they have a crush on someone, while claiming to know that their crush already has one on someone else. The use of direct names targets individual students. “I think it [the account] has outed people as gay before, and its really not okay,” Kier said. Although all of the accounts follow the same theme of MTHS preceding the rest of their handle, it is unclear whether all of them are created by the same student. For fear of being discovered or having their accounts shut down, no one has associated themselves with the pages. However, all the pages rely on participation from the community, with requests in each of their bios for direct messages from students with pictures and content. In order to get more information on the motivation behind the accounts, the Hawkeye sent a direct message to the mths. posture account. “I saw a TikTok about these school accounts and it made me want to make one myself since it looked fun,” they said. While some seem to find the accounts amusing, others have found themselves in fear of ending up on them, while still others think there is a line that needs to be drawn. H
LATEST VIRUS VARIANT FORCES SEVERAL CHANGES By Kaylee Miyamoto HAWKEYE STAFF
As the omicron variant of COVID-19 surged across the nation and within schools, Edmonds School District officials and the MTHS administration made various changes to attempt to prevent the further spread of the virus and protect students. The changes made ranged from cutting nutrition breaks in between classes to receiving more COVID tests for students with symptoms and those in close contact. The district has an open COVID dashboard, with the aim of informing families of the positive cases along with close contacts among students and staff at each school. As the spread increased and more positive cases were reported, the dashboard became overwhelmed and inaccurate. In order for a case to be reported as positive, the student must be notified. Then, contact tracing also must be performed. Only then is the case deemed positive on the dashboard. With staff shortages at every school, contact tracing has been difficult. In addition to their day to day role as building leaders, administrators have been tasked with contact tracing as well. However, in an attempt to be more transparent, principal Greg Schellenberg began sending emails out to parents with an update on the daily positive cases at MTHS starting on Jan. 28, when cases were spiking.
Close contact during the passing guidelines have period. “Testing kits have become more accessible to students in recent also changed. From Prior to the surge weeks, as the district recently the beginning of of the omicron variobtained 10,000 Rapid COVID the year until the ant, testing was one tests to distribute throughout the month of January, of the most effective schools.” each student was ways to keep students notified if they had and staff safe, as any been exposed as a result of being in close student could get a test if they felt like they proximity to someone who tested positive needed one or if they had been deemed a for 15 minutes or more, regardless of setting close contact. However, after the omicron and whether masks were worn or not. Today, variant began to spread, testing slowed down a person is not considered close contact if considerably, and students who wanted to be they are in a setting, such as a classroom or tested could not get one because of the lack structured environment outdoors, where of testing kits. masks are worn consistently. Based on these “I can’t remember the exact timeline, guidelines, the ESD announced in January but testing was slow for many weeks,” that they would stop contact tracing those Schellenberg said. within the classroom as a result of proper A minor change that has taken place in mask wearing. recent weeks is the county’s guidelines on the “We look at high priority [close contacts] testing of athletes. Before, they were tested on buses and if there is a special seating each day before practice. Now, they will be group of students in clusters in classrooms tested only before competitions. and we check the student’s vaccination status “This didn’t make that much of a differto notify them,” Schellenberg said. “Students ence, as for many of our athletes, they have are only notified if they are not vaccinated.” competition two to three times a week,” To change the amount of time of possible Schellenberg said. spread, the school has also decided to cut Testing kits have become more accessible the nutrition break so there is less time for to students in recent weeks, as the district students to interact with masks down. Social recently obtained 10,000 Rapid COVID distancing is more up to discussion on how tests to distribute throughout the schools. administration will enforce it as students Home testing kit results are being accepted stay close together in the halls and in groups to get back into the building, too.
According to the ESD website, those with a positive result can return five days after a positive test, so long as the student or staff member is fever free for 24 hours, and symptoms are resolved or absent. Those who had close contact do not need to be isolated, must have all primary vaccines (and boosters for those 18 and up) or receive positive COVID results within 90 days. Those with close contacts must be isolated if they have not received all primary COVID-19 vaccines as well as those who are 18 and up and did not receive the booster within the past two weeks of initial contact. To return after the five-day quarantine, you must also receive a negative test result. All information can be found on the Edmonds School District website under COVID Health/Safety. While students are still expected to social distance and to wear their masks, many are starting to forget, and more teachers and staff are constantly reminding them to keep their masks above their noses. The change in contact tracing rules in the classroom relies on proper mask wearing. Therefore, MTHS staff have been instructed to refer any student who has to be reminded more than twice to wear their masks properly to administrators. “We need to stay masked and keep each other safe, and if you have to constantly be reminded, there will be consequences,” Schellenberg said. H
