e The Times-News, Nephi, Utah

 

 

96 South Main Street, PO Box 77, Nephi, Utah 84648 - Voice: 435 623-0525 - FAX: 435 623-4735
On our front page this week
August 11, 2021

 

 

By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

The two school districts located in Juab County plan no COVID-19 restrictions when students return to school next week.

In the future, it will be up to district superintendents, school boards, county health departments and county commissioners to determine what will happen concerning masking students and teachers.

Dr. Kodey Hughes, Juab School District Superintendent, and Gregory Thornock, Tintic School District Superintendent, met with county commissioners to discuss the start of school.

Both Juab and Tintic will be back to a five-day-a-week school schedule with remote learning possible for those who need it.

There will also be no COVID-19 testing required for participation in extracurricular activities.

“If we need to make changes during the year,” Hughes said, “then we will come to the county commission. You will be part of the decision.”

Hughes said that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) suggested that to maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others that wearing a mask indoors in public in an area of substantial or high transmission was a good plan.

Hughes referred to SB 107, “In-Person Instruction Prioritization” and said that the Utah State Legislature banned mask mandates for K-12 schools. He said it was the Utah Department of Health’s (UDOH) recommendation that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks in indoor public settings including schools.

In preparation for students returning to the classroom in a few weeks, Utah’s Department of Health is meeting with state superintendents, local health departments, some county commissioners and others to formulate back-to-school plans with COVID-19 in mind.

“We have been in meetings with all 41 superintendents,” said Hughes. “Last week we met with the state health department and state epidemiologists.”

Hughes said that they were working with seven health departments. Juab is part of the Central Utah Health Department.

“I belong to the Central Utah Health board,” said Clinton Painter, commissioner.

“We are working so that we all speak a common language,” Hughes said.

“We will use best practices,” said Thornock.

Those would include proper handwashing and hygiene etiquette, staying home when sick, and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. Schools will also continue to provide hand sanitizer for anyone who wants to use it

.“Vaccinations are not required. We will quarantine a student who has been with another student who was found to have COVID if they have been together for 15 minutes,” Thornock said.

In December 2020 and January 2021, Hughes said, there were 82,273 students who contracted COVID. Of those, 752 were hospitalized, 46 were in ICU, and 86 needed respiratory response.

Utah reported its first death of a child due to COVID-19 on March 9, 2021.

“We have a fairly low vaccination rate in Tintic,” said Thornock.

Hughes said that he and Thornock would appreciate the county health department releasing the numbers every day. The schools needed those numbers on a daily basis in order to be on top of the rates.

Richard Hansen, county commission chairman, said that science indicated that young people did not get as sick with COVID-19 as older people did.

“We don’t necessarily have children wear masks to protect the child but to protect those who live in the child’s household,” said Hughes.

“Where is the liability?” asked Hansen.

As long as the schools followed guidelines and allowed parents to make their own decisions, Hughes said, the district could not be sued. The problem would come if the schools did not do either and were non-active.

“We need to do our due diligence,” said Thornock. “That is what we are doing by meeting together and working on plans. We need to hunker down and do what is needed.”

“Your jobs are hard enough,” said Painter.

He said that school administrators have to deal not only with educational needs but with the mental health and physical needs of the students.

One in five children and youth have a diagnosable emotional, behavioral or mental health disorder and one in 10 young people have a mental health challenge.

COVID had not made those challenges easier for some students. Being in school was a better solution for many students.

“We can have a common language,” said Hughes. “We will be in touch.”

The legislature wants the commission to be a part of the solution. Health departments are wanting to take a backseat but the data was still needed in order to make wise decisions.