QCEA President Shares Statement at 11/12/20 School Board Meeting
Good Evening,
In the past, this board has used low community spread as one of its reasons for claiming our schools should return to live instruction, five days a week. At the beginning of the school year, only one county had a “substantial” level of community spread; however, that has quickly changed and the upward trend is frightening. As of last week, there are now 38 counties that have the highest level of community spread, designating them as “substantial,” including Bucks County. The QCEA membership resides in nine different counties and every one of those counties is currently labeled as “substantial,” and their community spread is increasing, as well as hospitalizations. Those staff members are traveling to and from their hot spot counties each day, working in buildings with other staff members who reside in other high community spread areas, all while this board considers moving forward with a plan that decreases social distancing, packs hallways and classrooms, increases the amount of contacts throughout a day, and increases the overall number of people in our buildings. Additionally, there continues to be an increase in building absences for Covid related reasons, as well as a decrease in the substitute fill rate to cover those positions. Buildings are on the brink of closure, because they can’t be staffed.
According to the state departments of both health and education, districts should be switching to a “full remote learning model,” when their county has a substantial level of community spread, defined as 100 or more incidents per 100,000 or a 10 percent or higher positivity rate. As of today, Bucks County’s rate is more than double the incident rate at 212 per 100,000. Inconceivably, this board wants to do the complete opposite and thrust the doors wide open by sending more students back for more days. The board has a track record of not following the state recommendations and guidelines and now this wreckless trend is about to continue, by switching to an ill-fated plan for our secondary schools to return live for five days a week, as community spread numbers continue to surge.
As recently as yesterday, the director of the PolicyLab at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), warned “that while most infections of children and teachers appear to be occurring out of school, there is increasing evidence that the virus is being transmitted in schools around the area.” The PolicyLab Director, David Rubin, explains that “there may even be more in-school transmission than we know, due to contact tracers not being able to keep up with the surging caseload and record-high infections.” So although some have been proud of a supposed lack of spread in our schools, they’re also speaking of the past, when halls were emptier, our desks were further apart and less people were in the buildings. The fact that we recently had four positive cases in our high school and another positive case at Pfaff elementary today, isn’t reassuring.
As I have asked previously, why does this board refuse to be proactive and not see the warning signs? Why wait until it’s too late and the numbers rise even more, while risking infecting our teachers, who you desperately need to provide instruction? I’m asking that you provide clarity to the staff and students of this district, as well as the community, by committing to a matrix or threshold that determines when a school should close. How high does the level of spread in our community need to be before this board will follow state guidelines regarding instructional models? At what point does our solicitor believe our board could be seen as negligent or be held accountable for not following state guidelines and recommendations?
Our staff and students’ health and safety must be a priority for this board and following the guidelines of state health officials will help prove that you truly care. I obviously don’t speak for every one of my members and I’ve never claimed to do so, but I promise you that the majority who I do speak for, don’t want to be Dr. Damsker’s lab rats as we gamble with our health and safety to prove whether or not his hypotheses come true. This includes his ideas of moderate quarantines and seven day quarantines, both of which are weaker and less protective models. How could you possibly be considering switching to one of these models at a time of surging cases? Why are we holding onto the words of one doctor when a plethora of doctors, scientists, and researchers have stated the opposite? Please do what’s safe and right, and pause your decision for our secondary schools to return to five days a week until community spread decreases to a safer number level.
Thank you,
Ryan Wieand
QCEA President
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