By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
With local schools reopening next week, students will return for full-time learning in school buildings with a number of mitigations meant to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Virus protocols such as mandated masking at higher risk levels, optional masking at lower risk levels, and restrictions on student gatherings will be discussed at a meeting of the Sitka School Board tonight.
The district will mandate masks for students and staff regardless of vaccine status when the community is at high and moderate risk levels, but if risk levels fall, masks will become optional except on school buses, the district’s COVID guidance packet states.
The School Board has made the risk level calculation for the school district the same as that used by the City and Borough of Sitka.
The school district’s full mitigation plan is available on sitkaschools.org as an attachment to today’s board agenda. District Superintendent Frank Hauser will present the plan to the School Board at tonight’s meeting.
For weeks, Sitka’s risk level has remained high as fresh virus cases continued to roll in. High risk is defined as 15 or more cases over 14 days. Moderate risk ranges from 8 to 14 cases over two weeks, while low risk indicates between one and seven cases in the same time period. The lowest risk level, minimal, means that there have been no local COVID cases in a fortnight.
Today, Sitka’s rolling 14-day case rate daily average remained above eight, as shown on the city dashboard, with 102 cases still active.
With schools likely to reopen with Sitka still at high risk, school district policy is that these mitigation measures will be in place:
– Students will wear masks in school.
– Classroom seats will be spaced three feet apart.
– Large gatherings will be limited.
– No spectators will be allowed at sporting events.
If community risk declines to the moderate level, some sports spectators will be allowed, and restrictions will be loosened as risk declines. This fall, volleyball, cross country, and swimming seasons are planned, and at all community risk levels students in extracurricular activities will be tested for COVID weekly. Other students and staff members will have access to optional testing when desired.
Hauser told the Sentinel via text that 88 percent of district staff who work in school buildings are vaccinated, and 68 percent of students ages 12 to 18 have been vaccinated for COVID. Under federal guidelines the vaccine is not authorized for children under 12.
Hauser noted that the district does not require staff to be vaccinated.
When traveling, the district will not require vaccinated staff and students to quarantine, but testing is recommended. For those who are unvaccinated, a brief quarantine followed by a rapid test are recommended after traveling.
The plan states that students and staff who feel ill are urged to stay at home.
Tonight’s School Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. and can be viewed by following a Zoom link posted to sitkaschools.org on the homepage of the site. The meeting also can be attended in person at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Schools are scheduled to reopen on Monday, August 23.
