Washington students to scan ‘QR code’ to track location for ‘contact tracing’

In an email to families sent before the start of the school year, Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wash., informed students that they would be split into three lunch periods. Students have the option of eating in the cafeteria, the main gym, the auxiliary gym, or the courtyard. The 115 year old school is a historic building with a beautiful campus that was the filming location for the Heath Ledger teen romantic comedy "10 Things I Hate About You."

Though students would be provided with "appropriate social distancing" while eating lunch unmasked, "students are required to scan a QR code to submit information about their location," to "better facilitate contact tracing."

Students are not required to scan in for classes because each teacher has classroom rosters.

According to a statement from Kathryn McCarthy, Strategic Communications and Marketing Manager for Tacoma Public Schools, "Rather than trying to keep students in assigned seating, each location and table will have a QR code. Students will be asked to scan the code and complete a quick form. In the event of a COVID case, the information students provide with the QR check-in will assist with accurate contact tracing."

She added that, "Stadium High School is the only Tacoma Public School using a QR code check-in for lunches."

According to the email from the school, "We will all wear masks and stay physically distanced from each other on school grounds. As a reminder, masks must completely cover the nose and mouth, fit securely, and be made of two or more layers of tightly woven fabric."

Other schools have taken stricter approaches to follow Inslee's mandates during lunch. A photo posted by a student purported to show the school gymnasium at Gig Harbor High School, with chairs spaced 6 feet apart from each other for lunch time. According to the student, it "felt like prison."

In August, Democrat Governor Jay Inslee reinstituted indoor mask mandates for the state and mandated vaccines for K-12 educators. Schools across the state have struggled to address the mandates so close to the start of the school year, especially when Inslee's mandates are among the most stringent in the entire country.