Precautions have come to the forefront of everyone’s minds since COVID-19 swept the country in early March. Practicing social distancing, washing hands frequently and wearing masks everywhere have become the new normal. A sight that can be found upon the floors of LHS are one-way hallways. Red arrows direct students down specific hallways and prevent them from going down others. Assistant principal Mitch Lynch’s decision for one way hallways was to keep a consistent traffic pattern. 

“One of the big decisions was ultimately to limit exposure and congestion in hallways and try to get it to flow in one direction so that we could get kids to class as quickly as possible, but in the same breath, the safest manner possible,” said Lynch.

Ever since the pandemic swept the nation, multiple stores, including Hy-Vee and Target, have assigned one-way aisles in the hopes of directing customers in a solid flow. However, some customers have not taken the initiative to follow them. At LHS, the students have been able to adapt to the new system that has been implemented quite easily. 

“I know there was some frustration in the beginning with ‘ugh, I can’t go down this hallway, I have to go down this hallway’, but students have done a pretty good job with figuring it out and getting to class on time and with teachers recognizing if you have to go all the way down the loop and are coming from the A wing or E wing,” said Lynch. “I would say it’s been successful.”

However, some students are less than enthusiastic about the change. Freshman, Grace Meyers is displeased with the re-routing of hallways.

“I think it’s kind of annoying because sometimes it’s a lot less convenient to have to go one way instead of being able to go both ways,” said Meyers. “I have to take longer routes and it sometimes takes me longer to get to classes.”

It has taken a few weeks to realize the safety standards put in place, but LHS students are starting to come around to the idea that this is the new normal for a while. 

“I notice that when we ask students what we are doing and why we are doing it, they have an idea of why we are doing it,” said Lynch. “Our students have historically been really good about saying ‘okay’ and ultimately kind of doing that for the greater good of the building.”