Abby K-12 talks COVID-19
Two years in, and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominant discussions locally and nationally.
The Abbotsford School Board is no different, with that topic coming up once more when board member Kraig Schindler voiced his doubts regarding the district’s contact tracing policy during the board’s monthly meeting on Oct. 25.
Schindler recounted his daughter’s quarantine experience, and wondered why the school continues to take part in healthcare rather than education.
“My daughter was quarantined,” Schindler began. “She got a letter from the school on Oct. 11, which was a Monday, and it said she had come in contact with someone the previous Monday. So my child was in school for eight days before she was quarantined.”
“She has the benefit of a parent that is at home, but it made me think about other kids, and one thing my daughter said is ‘I don’t learn at home. I need to go to school.’ So I think about all the other kids that are in the district.”
Schindler said not all kids have a simliar home life as his family, and he questioned how that affects their learning.
“If they are a child that is younger, their sibling might have to stay at home and watch them. I think as a school our goal is education, number one, and we also need to look out for their well-being.”
Schindler said contact tracing and quarantines are having negative side effects on students’ academic performance, and also on students’ emotional and mental well-being.
“The health department and the school do share some commonalities in our goals, but they don’t always align, and I think we need to bring education to the forefront of our students,” he said. “With that, I would like to propose a change to the guidelines.”
Schindler said sick individuals should be quarantined, and the district should follow health department guidelines, but contact tracing and quarantines should be left to the health department. Schindler felt too much of the district’s resources were spent on contact tracing, rather than education.
Several board members worried the county might issue a blanket quarantine order on entire classrooms, or even entire school populations.
“The thing I’m afraid is that the health department is going to cast a big net,” superintendent Ryan Bargender. “That’s a chance you take.”
“Not all kids learn the same, some do just fine, and some don’t,” board president Eric Reis said. “My only concern is that without us contact tracing, the county could threaten to quarantine a whole class.”
Ultimately, the board chose to keep the district’s contact tracing policy as is.
Other business
_ The board approved the hiring of Angelica Ramirez as 4K assistant, Dillon Novak as MS girls and MS boys basketball coach, Lori Eisch as FEAS instructor and Chelsea Stuttgen as a 4K teacher for the 2021-2022 year.
