Seating charts, we’ve all had to deal with them growing up. As kids we were assigned seats which meant that specific desk was yours for the entire school year. The same can be said for office desks. You can place your books on it, decorate your space with those cute little succulent plants or place a picture of your partner or kids. No judgments here.

Except for one small issue: Mt. SAC has implemented-or rather suggested a seating chart in lieu of students using Cleared4. Now, if everyone remembers last semester Mt. SAC had announced that all students will need to use Cleared4 in order to receive a temporary or permanent clearing to return to class based on vaccination status.

Everything was fine until Cleared4, which was supposed to help students easily book appointments for COVID tests and upload proof of vaccinations turned into a cleared nightmare. What was supposed to be a useful and easy tool turned into the worst nightmare I’ve ever had to deal with.

That is, until a recent school meeting decided to overturn the use of Cleared4 for a better option: seating charts. Now, as someone who is vaccinated and had to deal with the personal stresses of waiting to be cleared to return to class, the school’s decision to suggest the use of seating charts was like a slap to the face.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that I can walk into a classroom and “mark my territory” knowing that this will be my seat for the remainder of the semester but using seating charts instead of Cleared4 makes no sense to me.

Fast forward to last week when I walked into my classroom only to be told that the seat we’re in will be the same for the rest of this semester. Cool, there’s no issue here-until I realized that this was the end of Cleared4. Yes, Mt. SAC has a vaccine mandate and that is fine with me but I don’t feel ready to sit next to someone just yet.

When I stepped into my classroom again I realized that the school’s proposed seating chart was a complete joke. Imagine sitting down on a desk you chose, one you woke up early for just to claim and then being told that your desk will be yours…only for today.

As most of you know, this school has had a track record of backtracking statements and asking professors to implement a seating chart is bogus in my opinion. From what I understand, this seating chart is supposed to be in effect until the end of the semester but what I have seen based on my own witness account is that professor’s aren’t enforcing this seating chart.

Based on my own account, students have been moving freely around classrooms and some have even been crowding around each other. Again, regardless of vaccination I do not feel comfortable sitting next to someone even if they are vaccinated.

The school choosing to implement this ridiculous seating arrangement is not only annoying but there is no point if it is not being enforced. School officials aren’t monitoring classrooms and while some classrooms are pushing for arranged seating, not everyone will follow this rule.

It may sound silly of me, but I would have preferred the continuation of Cleared4-no matter how many headaches it brings me. But the difference between the app and a seating chart is one of them was actually being enforced while the other not so much.

Think about it: with Cleared4 you were able to book appointments for tests and with just a quick snap of a picture you were done. Ignoring the headaches brought on by the use of Cleared4 it was much easier for school officials to enforce. Seating charts? Not so much. With COVID-19 ending it only begs the question: should we really start living carefree?

Maybe. Again, I do not feel comfortable sitting or rather sharing the same desk as someone else. Don’t take it personally, I too long for the day where we can really feel safe to live carefree but it’s impossible to do when the school changes its mind faster than I can say “COVID is over!”

The seating chart is a bad idea. Honestly, do we really think someone is going to abide by the rules? You can say you’re going to carry out the law but it doesn’t mean you’re going to apply it. That’s the issue with this whole chart. Just because the school applies it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be enforced.

It’s ridiculous to think that a seating chart will stop someone from moving around or crowd around others. The way I see it, what’s the point if no one is going to abide by the rules? It’s time for school officials to decide: implement the seating chart or don’t. There’s no in between.