I attended the public meeting at the Grundy County Health Department last week and spent many hours putting in my notes and writing the story. I included the comments of every person who spoke who gave their name. I walked away disheartened by some comments, but also with the feeling that some good ideas were shared.
The meeting was held to focus on the isolation and quarantine of students. Dr. NiCole Neal, president of the GCHD board, said the board wanted input on how isolation and quarantine is being handled in the schools. And she and the rest of the board got an earful. I’m going to focus on two ideas that were presented that I think have merit – and no, I’m not saying everyone else was an idiot so don’t even go there – I just have room to focus on two ideas!
One idea, presented by Rissler Elementary teacher and R-9 parent Pam Bowden, was to allow students who are identified as a close contact to continue attending school if the parent wishes as long as the student will wear a mask during the quarantine period. I think that’s a viable option. My only issue would be that it puts the pressure on school staff to not only know who is quarantined as they’re walking the halls, but to enforce the mask rule. If the student violates the mask rule, they would be sent home for the duration of the quarantine period. This sounds reasonable to me, but based on the fact that the vast majority of people who attended the meeting refused to wear a mask – at the local public health agency – even when they were asked multiple times, I really have to wonder how many of the parents would support this idea. As the grandmother of a child who has been quarantined twice already this year, you can bet I’d advocate for him being in school even if he had to wear a mask.
The second option was presented by Pleasant View R-6 Superintendent Rebecca Steinhoff. She said it is very possible that her district could quarantine an entire class if needed. They could stay in their classroom, eat in the room, be on the playground when other students are not, use a separate restroom from other students, etc. That’s a viable option for R-6 and probably for Spickard R-2, Laredo R-7 and maybe even Grundy R-5 Elementary. I don’t see it as an option at Trenton R-9, but maybe I’m wrong. It’s definitely an option that could be explored.
Here’s what I also came away with from that meeting and the thing that has eaten at me all week: people have become so disrespectful. You came into their “house” and were asked to take the simple step of wearing a mask. You refused. You didn’t take into consideration the health of anyone around you. As many like to point out – and it’s true – the vaccine and masks are not 100 percent effective. I agree, and it’s possible I (or you) could have COVID and not have symptoms. That’s the best-case scenario – that if I get it, the steps I’ve taken will keep me healthy. Some people claim to care so much about other people but then stood in front of me without their mask. I am planning to have minor shoulder surgery in a couple of weeks. I’ll have to be tested two days prior to surgery and even if I feel like I can run a marathon that day (not likely) if I test positive, I can’t have my surgery. And trust me, there are many who have far more serious health issues than I have who get exposed every day because someone decided it was their “right.”
Just because it’s your “right” doesn’t make it right.
I hope that the health department and the school districts will be able to come together to work on a way to keep healthy kids in school. Somehow, we’ve forgotten that we’re all in this together.
We still are, right?