Starting the new school year with new regulations, new students, and even a new morning routine can be tedious.

After having school online for nearly two years due to COVID-19, students and staff now have to check in with a unique “Daily Pass” QR code every morning, which helps monitor the results of their weekly COVID-19 test. The Daily Pass has since then added a couple of extra steps to everyone’s morning routines, including the staff that works at Venice. 

Going to school with this newly implemented system may seem tiresome, but luckily the staff of Venice High have taken the liberty to cheer the students up. School psychologist Rosa Escobar is one of the Daily Pass scanners who is often stationed at the entrance between Cunningham and Science building before school.

“We try to make it lively by bringing a small speaker to play music,” she says. “We’re having a good time playing that music and welcoming students. I think it’s a nice little motivation.”

Staff have been finding an unlikely connection with students through these Daily Pass lines. 

“What I enjoy about it is the interaction with students,” she said.  

There are also some unique individuals that Escobar laughingly described.

“I see students when they don’t have their phones and they have their Apple Watch and they’re like, ‘Here, scan it!’ and I was like ‘Oh, okay!’” she says. 

She also talks about the challenges students may face when it comes to Daily Pass.

“I think some students may have it a little bit more difficult than others because of wifi, cracked screens, and much more,” she said. “I think everyone has their own challenges.”

Previously, students who came later on in the morning may have had to wait in long lines or experience the website not working due to the influx of people trying to access it. Other students can even end up being marked tardy to their classes due to having to wait in the lines, or not being used to the Daily Pass check-in process in their morning routine yet.

The Daily Pass system has gotten better and more organized after the first week of school. The website crashes less frequently and there are more lines throughout the entrances of the school with more on-task staff. 

An anonymous student said, “It really did get better from the first weeks of school. It’s less stressful now.”

The process became simpler and much quicker.

“They’ve upgraded the Daily Pass, because at first it was really clunky and it took forever to get your Daily Pass, and I’ve noticed that even if a lot of people are trying to get their Daily Pass at the same time, I can still get it, whereas before it would be forever and forever,” she said.

COVID-19 has stricken fear in the hearts of many. 

Media Arts and Technology Academy head, Ruth Greene says, “If I get it, I get it, but I would hate to be the one to get COVID-19 and give it to somebody else who got really sick. That’s my worst nightmare.”

“I would rather have everybody be safe and following the protocols than to have someone bringing COVID-19 in, and it’s one thing I’ll take responsibility for myself if I get it, but giving it to somebody else, I don’t want to give it to somebody else.”

Escobar has also been battling the fear of getting COVID-19.

“We just have hand sanitizer and sometimes we have to tell students, ‘Yeah, give us some personal space’, because they’re all up in front of you like, ‘Here’s my phone’, so we just have to remind them,” she says. 

“People are fearful of what if they get COVID-19,” she adds. “There’s some people who are asymptomatic and they are fine at first, but there are other people who might get it and take it to their families and things could happen.” 

Fortunately, the Daily Pass leaves the Venice community in good hands. It serves the purpose of dissipating this fear and making the return to school much safer. 

A student walks to the Daily Pass check-in lines in the morning cold, welcomed by “Sunflower”, by Post Malone, and staff saying their greetings while readily scanning Daily Passes. A solid start to the day, for both students and teachers alike. Even if it’s just for a moment, the entire Venice High community comes together in these trying times.