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Lisabeth Lueninghoener
Aug 6, 2021, 11:44:41 AM8/6/21
to Jennifer Guy, public....@laschools.net
A couple of thoughts and questions on the upcoming school year:
Last year the board signed a petition asking for more local control over covid policies. Having done that, it is now upon you to make tough decisions and not simply rely upon state guidance.
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Last year the board signed a petition asking for more local control over covid policies. Having done that, it is now upon you to make tough decisions and not simply rely upon state guidance.
CLOSE CONTACTS
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The following exception has been made to the term close contact:
"In the K–12 indoor classroom setting, the close
contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to 6
feet of an infected student (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically
compatible illness) where
» both students were engaged in consistent and correct use
of well-fitting face masks; and
» other K–12 school prevention strategies (such as universal
and correct mask use, physical distancing, increased
ventilation) were in place in the K–12 school setting."
* Since masks are not universally required at the Middle and High Schools, will all close contacts at those schools be expected to quarantine?
* While I know this was research based, this research is prior to the delta variant's explosion in the US and its subsequent effect on children. Additionally, kids mess with their masks. A lot. I think it is unrealistic to ask a teacher to remember who was playing with their masks two days ago and identify individual students in need of quarantine.
* Since masks are not universally required at the Middle and High Schools, will all close contacts at those schools be expected to quarantine?
* While I know this was research based, this research is prior to the delta variant's explosion in the US and its subsequent effect on children. Additionally, kids mess with their masks. A lot. I think it is unrealistic to ask a teacher to remember who was playing with their masks two days ago and identify individual students in need of quarantine.
* I would ask you to reconsider this approach and pivot to remote in the event of a classroom exposure. If you will not do that, then I strongly suggest you offer families the opportunity to quarantine their own children for that time with no attendance repercussions.
MASKING
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* Currently the CDC recommends universal masking in all K-12 settings. Our school district is choosing to allow vaccinated Middle and High School students to unmask.
* I understand that as a county with exceptionally high adult vaccination rates the board and superintendent feel we've done the work to make this happen.
* Have we considered the added burden Middle and High School teachers will find in recalling which students must wear masks? How many kids are vaxxed in each class? I can understand keeping track of a few unvaxxed kids, but not half a class.
* Which metrics have you put in place to determine if this plan is an acceptable risk? In the past month we've had 8 new cases of covid in kids in town. While I hope this number will go down with the end of summer travel, Delta is more transmissible in kids and we may see an uptick in school cases even among vaccinated kids. When will you pivot to universal masking?
MASKING
----------------------------------
* Currently the CDC recommends universal masking in all K-12 settings. Our school district is choosing to allow vaccinated Middle and High School students to unmask.
* I understand that as a county with exceptionally high adult vaccination rates the board and superintendent feel we've done the work to make this happen.
* Have we considered the added burden Middle and High School teachers will find in recalling which students must wear masks? How many kids are vaxxed in each class? I can understand keeping track of a few unvaxxed kids, but not half a class.
* Which metrics have you put in place to determine if this plan is an acceptable risk? In the past month we've had 8 new cases of covid in kids in town. While I hope this number will go down with the end of summer travel, Delta is more transmissible in kids and we may see an uptick in school cases even among vaccinated kids. When will you pivot to universal masking?
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