by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
On Monday, the Garretson School Board met and outlined its plan for the upcoming school year, which included a mask recommendation rather than the mandate that was in place in 2020-21.
The school is required to adopt and submit a Covid-19 action plan as required by the Department of Health and Department of Education. As part of that, they spoke about their action plan in open session as part of their school board meeting this past Monday.
The starting plan for 2021-22 is face to face learning and no online study options. Masks will not be required, but strongly encouraged at this point in time. Covid-19 vaccines are likewise not required, but strongly encouraged.
“Let me be clear, anyone who hasn’t had a vaccine should be wearing a mask, I can’t advocate that strongly enough,” said Supt. Guy Johnson.
This plan includes three different levels of virus transmission, beginning with green, which is low- to- no transmission. This stage is basically business as usual, and is where the board and administration feel that Garretson is right now.
It’s their hope that’s where the district will stay. However, the South Dakota Department of Health website placed a notice stating that during the week of July 25-31, cases were up 68% from the previous week.
The second level, yellow, is where there is some viral transmission. At that point the school will “very strongly recommend that all staff and students mask.”
Level red is when they start to see high transmission rates among students. When the school reaches that point, they will require masks for all staff and students.
This plan also reserves the right to adapt to changing conditions.
“There is a lot of concern right now about the Delta variant of the Coronavirus,” said Supt. Johnson. “People have every right to be concerned, and we’re going to be watching it closely. There are a lot of parents and concerned people who are going to look at this plan and say that it doesn’t go nearly far enough, that we should continue to require masks. However, people are tired of masking, and the feedback we’ve been getting from parents leads me to believe that if we required masks, some families would choose to open enroll their students out of the district.”
“We’ve had a whole summer without masks, and people are sick of them,” said Board President Shannon Nordstrom. “The virus traditionally appears not to be as virulent in children, so the odds are in our favor. I hate to say those words, especially when we’re talking about people’s lives and protecting our children, but I just don’t think the citizens of our district will stand for it if we put in a mask mandate in force now.”
“Only one school that I know about in all of South Dakota is requiring masks at the start of this school year, and nobody in our area is even considering it,” said Supt. Johnson. He also noted that most of the school staff has been vaccinated.
New board member Jodi Linneweber noted that many of the Delta variant infections she’s seen in South Dakota have been either unvaccinated or people who have been vaccinated, but who fall into the immunocompromised category, and noted that those who have been vaccinated tend to recover more quickly.
In April, Governor Kristi Noem signed an executive order prohibiting public schools and other government entities from requesting proof of COVID vaccinations, which extends to schools, despite required vaccinations for other diseases in order to enter kindergarten, 6th grade, and college.
New board member Ryan Longhenry noted that versatility is something the board needs to emphasize about this plan. Right now, he said, things are all right, but if there is a problem a mask mandate and any other mitigation measures the board feels are necessary can be implemented right away.
The old adage is to "plan for the worst and hope for the best." One can only hope that Garretson won’t have to deal with another crisis this year.
We’ll have a full story in our next issue, but because school will be opening next Thursday the Gazette staff felt it was crucial to get this information out now.
The school will host an open house on Tuesday, August 17 at 6-7:30 p.m. and classes begin on Thursday, August 19.
