Discrimination based on Vaccination Status
Jessica Kroells
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Jessica Kroells, you may know who I am because I have not been cooperative in the ongoing political atmosphere in the Poudre School District. My grandfather always preached that if you are complacent when witnessing wrongdoing you are just as guilty as the wrongdoer. I am incredibly saddened by the behavior of people placed in a system to protect our children.
Specifically, I want to address my concern over the discrimination of my child to include reporting his medical status to the entire student body, teachers, and staff, and excluding him unfairly from participating in normal school activities in relation to his vaccinated peers. I have been in communication with Poudre High School and it has been made clear that the lack of communication from Poudre High School has been a result of timing and not negligence. I understand, but as I'm writing this, we still do not have a return date for our child. It has also been communicated that the discriminatory policies that you are upholding are guidance from Larimer County Health. Nonetheless, I find your compliance to be an agreement to the medical discrimination of students in your care.
On Thursday, August 26th, after playing in a Varsity Football game, my son boarded a Chartered bus. An Assistant Principal announced to the busload of students that there was COVID 19 exposure, that those who were unvaccinated would need to remain home until further notice and the students that can provide a vaccination card may resume normal activities. It has been discussed among the boys and families in the football community that the positive COVID 19 case was in fact a VACCINATED member of the football team.
I am asking for confirmation, was the child that tested positive for Covid 19 vaccinated? Their status should not be protected if my child’s status is not, that would be discrimination based on pesonal medical information. I would like to know if you are asking about vaccination status when cases are reported? Are you documenting and sharing the status of vaccinated positive Covid 19 cases with your friends at Larimer County Health or even the Poudre School District’s Board of Education so they can begin making educated decisions regarding the student body? Are you tracking the exposed vaccinated children that are allowed to resume normal activities and join classes immediately so you can assume the responsibility of keeping those exposed and carrying from spreading it to others? What is the legal basis for your discrimination, do you have specific Colorado laws backing up your decisions to discriminate against a specific group? I ask these questions because if your vaccinated students in the PHS community are contracting COVID 19 and able to spread it (This is the assumed reason my healthy child, who is showing no signs of sickness, has not been allowed in your building because he was exposed to a vaccinated, sick Covid 19 child), is it not common sense that those students with their vaccination card, that you sent back to school, are just as likely to spread this virus as my unvaccinated child? This is clearly NOT about safety or the common good of the PHS community. If this was about safety or not spreading the illness...all those exposed would be home under the same conditions as my child. This is about punishing the unvaccinated child!! This is clearly about forcing families to comply with an agenda that cares very little about the actual health of students.
If you were actually concerned you would also be keeping the exposed vaccinated children home because it is clear they too are contracting and spreading Covid. If you can get it and spread it, please explain to me how you are different from a person not vaccinated! I have been told over and over that you are bound by the guidelines of Larimer County Health but I am of the understanding that you do not work for Larimer County Health! Who is advocating for the kids? Who is yelling at the top of their lungs to stop the political agenda in the school? Who is protecting the rights of the entire student body? I say to you, if you are complacent you are guilty of wrongdoing. If you are silent, this is on you.
Furthermore, my daughter was sitting in class at Poudre High School listening to students talk about which football players were in school and which weren't to determine who was vaccinated and who was not. This allows further discrimination among students, not to mention a display of negligence on your part to protect personal medical information from being discussed by an entire student body, assumed or not. Do you actually feel it’s ok to share private medical information and if so, would you want your private medical information published for the student body? If there are acceptable private medical issues to share with the student body, please let me know your policy.
It is well known at Poudre High School that your agenda to do twice weekly testing to avoid quarantine, on healthy students, is in hopes to catch asymptomatic children to help boost your numbers to provide substance to back a mandatory vaccination agenda. It’s clearly not to stop the spread, as observed by sending exposed “vaccinated” children back into the masses. It is a disgusting abuse of power and the only victims are the children that you signed up to protect. They are being used and abused by your hands.
Im sure you are not happy with my decision to speak out but I’ve watched many parents in absolute outrage over masking and vaccination discrimination and so I know that there are no advocates in the system. To clarify, my family has received many vaccinations that I was able to research and make educated decisions on regarding the usefulness of the vaccines for my family. I am not anti-vaccination. I am very much against mandatory vaccination, mandatory masking, and discrimation OF ANY KIND. We could walk away from the district, this is something that weighs heavy in my heart right now. Our children have found good friends and activities and they have some teachers and staff that they love and respect, some included in this email, but the quality of their experience has diminished greatly and tough choices need to be made. You are teaching them what a tiered society looks like and teaching them who matters and who does not. Supporting or adopting a system that will cause discrimination, segregation, and division based on medical status IS STILL discrimination, segregation and division.
I would like a response to my questions so I have documentation regarding the level of responsibility you are taking for your discrimination against my child and many others.
Best regards,
Jessica Kroells
Kristin Stephens
Kristin Stephens County Commissioner, District 2 | |
Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St, Fort Collins, 80521 | 1st Floor W: (970) 498-7002| Cell: (970) 443-9577 |
Mackay, Kathy - PHS
Hello and thank you for contacting me with your concerns. It is important to us to share information about how we are responding to COVID-19 as a district. In response to your questions, I can share the following:
PSD works with the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (LCDHE) on contact tracing investigations when there is a case of COVID-19 in PSD, sharing information such as students’ names, grades and parent/guardian contact information, as allowed under the Family Education Rights and Protection Act, or FERPA. The goal of the investigations is to identify who may have had close contact with a person who has COVID.
LCDHE, not PSD, issues legal quarantine orders to individuals who are determined to be close contacts of a COVID-19 case. LCDHE will exempt K-12 students from quarantine if:
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They are fully vaccinated (14 days past final dose),
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Have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days,
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Are participating in routine COVID-19 testing, or
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If both parties are wearing masks.
In high-risk activities, including athletics, P.E., band and choir, LCDHE uses a 48-hour initial assessment period to investigate reported interactions between possible close contacts and the COVID-19 case. During that time, students will need to stay home unless it can be verified that they are fully vaccinated.
LCDHE ultimately determines whether a student has met any of the quarantine exemption requirements. If not, LCDHE issues that student quarantine orders. Students who do not meet the quarantine exemption requirements are not permitted to return to school or any activities (extracurricular activities, athletics, etc.) until the date specified on their quarantine orders.
It is PSD’s protocol to NOT communicate/confirm individuals’ vaccination statuses to parents/guardians or students. We do know that it is possible that others could make unconfirmed inferences about another person’s vaccination status based on the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment’s ultimate determination about close contacts.
Again, thank you for reaching out to share your concerns.
Sincerely,
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2021 6:57 PM
To: Mackay, Kathy - PHS <kma...@psdschools.org>; Wilson, Kendall - PHS <kend...@psdschools.org>; nho...@psdshools.org <nho...@psdshools.org>; Kiel, Bryan - PHS <bk...@psdschools.org>; Lefurge, David - PHS <dlef...@psdschools.org>; Niesent, Michele - PHS <nmic...@psdschools.org>; tes...@psdschools.org <tes...@psdschools.org>; Kingsley, Brian <bkin...@psdschools.org>; Febvre, Christophe - BOE <cfe...@psdschools.org>; Robert Petterson <rpett...@psdschools.org>; Donovan, Nathan - BOE <ndon...@psdschools.org>; Draper, Kristen - BOE <kdr...@psdschools.org>; Reed, Carolyn - BOE <cr...@psdschools.org>; Anderson, DJ - BOE <dand...@psdschools.org>; Zamora, Jessica - BOE <jza...@psdschools.org>; Montoya, Dave - SSC <da...@psdschools.org>; jkef...@larimer.org <jkef...@larimer.org>; kste...@larimer.org <kste...@larimer.org>; jshadduc...@larimer.org <jshadduc...@larimer.org>; she...@co.larimer.co.us <she...@co.larimer.co.us>; cityl...@fcgov.com <cityl...@fcgov.com>; mbha...@coloradoan.com <mbha...@coloradoan.com>; Sady Swanson <sswa...@coloradoan.com>; bernard....@uchealth.org <bernard....@uchealth.org>; bdelg...@dominos-now.com <bdelg...@dominos-now.com>; leeje...@yahoo.com <leeje...@yahoo.com>; tjva...@gmail.com <tjva...@gmail.com>; westko...@gmail.com <westko...@gmail.com>; Adam Bright <abr...@chsaa.org>
Subject: Discrimination based on Vaccination Status