We would like nothing more than to write stories about the kids and the plays that they made during sporting events. We would like to do nothing but recognize their academic achievements and recognize the accomplishments of people who have gone before them. Unfortunately, our job is being made difficult by the actions of health authorities at the state and national level, who have taken it on themselves to punish our kids for either being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or their parents being in the wrong place at the wrong time and testing positive for the Coronavirus.
To start with, we are not denying that the Coronavirus is much more dangerous than the flu. It has killed many more people than the flu, and unlike the flu, it does not go away in the summertime. And if someone actually tests positive for it, we have no problem with isolating students. The problem is that certain health authorities have taken it upon themselves to impose excessive and draconian quarantine requirements that deprive students of opportunities to live a normal life. This is not just our opinion, but the opinion of 16 different area school superintendents, who have written a letter to state leaders asking them to modify state guidance in quarantining students. This letter was published in the October 29th Nodaway News-Leader. Three superintendents of schools we cover, Worth County Superintendent Dr. Matt Martz, NEN Superintendent Brenda Dougan, and North Nodaway Superintendent Chris Turpin, signed the letter.
This is not an indictment of local health authorities, who frequently have their hands tied by the state and the federal authorities, and many of whom are working with the area superintendents to push for a fairer quarantine policy for our students.
This group of superintendents has consulted with local health experts, who have done their own research and found that the period between a close contact (such as being within six feet for 15 minutes) and symptom onset is five days. They feel that a fair quarantine period should be 5-7 days.
The way quarantine rules are being applied is draconian. If someone has a close contact, they have to quarantine for 14 days. If it is a family household member, it is frequently 24 days. On top of that, if they go back to school, but another family member were to test positive for the Coronavirus a few weeks later, our kids have to go back and quarantine again for another 24 days. There have been plenty of instances of students getting multiple quarantines just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or their parents being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The group of 16 school superintendents also called for the elimination of quarantines if the student and a person who is positive for the Coronavirus were both wearing masks. The research is clear; while masks do not completely stop the spread of the Coronavirus, they help slow the spread. They have a valid point – if wearing a mask would reduce or eliminate the need for quarantines, compliance would be much higher.
The group of 16 school superintendents surveyed 20 schools in the area. A total of 1,430 students have been quarantined from these schools. Some of these students have been quarantined multiple times. Of these students, only 59 of them have actually tested positive for the Coronavirus.
When we student taught at Worth County during the 2004-2005 school year, the one thing that High School Principal Dale Healy was very strict with us and all of the teachers about was the need to supervise the students. How do we expect students to learn right from wrong if there is nobody home to supervise them because the parents work, or the parents have to isolate due to having the Coronavirus? How do we expect students to learn when they struggle with a bad connection, and there is no adult there to help them connect to the Internet? How do we expect them to learn when they feel like they are letting their team down by staying home, being punished when they are doing nothing wrong?
Other downsides to the current draconian efforts by federal and state health authorities to punish our children:
–Nutrition. Many students depend on the school meal for an adequate diet. How do we expect them to learn if they are not at school, eating the school lunch?
–Teachers. Why do we have to make the teachers do all the extra work, when they have only 50 minutes of planning time and they are paid 49th in Missouri out of 50 states? Why punish them, when it is the politicians in both parties who are failing us by failing to protect us from the virus, and failing to reign in the health officials at the state and national level?
We would go farther than the area superintendents in quarantines, although we support their efforts to make quarantine policies fairer. If a kid is a “close contact” or they have a household member who tests positive for the Coronavirus, they should be notified of that fact, but not punished, because they have done nothing wrong. They should be directed to stay at home except for school, school related functions, and when accompanied by family (such as getting groceries, for instance). They should be directed to wear masks in public (except, of course, when competing in sports) and to stay away from anyone who is over 60 and anyone who is at substantial risk. They should be tested daily. Only if they actually test positive, or if they actually display symptoms (such as coughing, loss of taste or smell, temperature) should they be required to stay home or be sent home. And if a kid is a “close contact,” parents should be within their rights to keep them at home if they are concerned about their kids spreading the virus to others.
We understand the goal of protecting the elderly. If we communicate the goal properly to our youth, that the object is to keep grandma and grandpa from getting sick and perhaps dying from the virus, rather than punishing them for doing nothing wrong, they would respect it, and there would be much less resistance to mask mandates. We suspect that most grandparents would understand if the goal is to keep them from getting sick, not to deprive them of the company of their grandkids. The goal should be to create a teachable moment for our kids, not punish them by making them stay home for up to 24 days when they don’t even get sick from the virus 99%+ of the time. The fundamentals of mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing are just as applicable to flu season as it is to the Coronavirus.
The sad thing about these draconian policies which punish our youth is that they are not even working. For instance, we had 42 new cases in Nodaway County just on October 27th alone. On October 28th alone, there were 28 new cases. On October 29th alone, there were 24 new cases. Even in Worth County, which has been lucky so far, there have been new cases in recent weeks, bringing the total number of cases up to 36 as of October 30th. These cases are not just among our youth, but are spread out among all ages.
Virus epidemics, even ones like the Coronavirus, eventually go away. But our kids can never get back a homecoming, a prom, their last senior football game, a graduation, or a trip to state. We’re fine with the current quarantine policies applying to adults. We can handle it. But there are too many experiences that are part of a kids’ athletic and educational experience that they can never get back. More and more, kids are being forced into becoming adults well before they are ready. They need a sense of normalcy.
Like the group of 16 superintendents, we understand the need to follow public health, hierarchy, and rules. Normally, we would agree. But this is a matter of right and wrong. We need more and more people to stand in the gap and tell people in Jefferson City and Washington (DC) that they can’t tell us how to dictate public health from the cozy confines of a big city office, and they should stop holding our youth hostage because they can’t figure out how to contain a pandemic. We can solve our own health problems much better than someone in DC or Jefferson City can, even if they have our best interests at heart.
We know of no set of laws in Western Civilization which demand that we punish our children for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or their parents being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that is exactly what these people are doing.
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