Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Pima Superintendent Sean Rickert, right, addresses the Pima Governing Board and those in attendance at the special Monday night session. The board voted 4-1 to allow asymptomatic students who have been deemed to have been in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case to return to school providing they follow additional COVID-19 safety measures, including wearing masks.
Will allow asymptomatic students who have had close contact with a positive COVID-19 case to still attend school if they wear a mask
By Jon Johnson
PIMA – If we’ve learned anything from going through a year-and-a-half-long pandemic is that at times there are tough choices to be made that both have positive and negative attributes, but a decision has to be made.
In the case of the Pima School District, that decision was weighing the potential positive and negative effects of keeping students in the school who otherwise would be quarantined by the health department for having a “close contact” with a person who contracted COVID-19. After previously discussing the matter for more than an hour Thursday night, the Pima School Board voted 4-1 on Monday night to allow asymptomatic students who have been in close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case to return to school in spite of quarantine orders from the health department. Students must adhere to increased COVID-19 mitigation protocol, including wearing a mask while on campus.
The Graham County Department of Health and Human Services performs contract tracing when it receives a positive test and just hired a new employee specifically to attend to that task. However, Director Brian Douglas told the Graham County Board of Supervisors at its Monday morning meeting that he is open to letting the state handle contact tracing or hiring a third party to do so.
As it is, the health department used contact tracing to quarantine an entire kindergarten class in Pima after one day of instruction, as well as various other students, including an entire student council class after a field trip.
On Monday, the health department reported 57 new positive tests for COVID-19 in the county in the last four days, with seven coming from the Pima/Bylas zip code. The total active cases for Graham County as of Monday were 185.
On Thursday, the Pima School Board held a meeting in which the topic was debated for about an hour. The meeting ended with Pima Superintendent Sean Rickert advising of a possible mitigation plan and at the board’s behest went about devising it and getting the rest of the staff on board.
On Monday night, the Pima School Board voted 4-1 in favor of Rickert’s COVID-19 mitigation plan to allow asymptomatic students identified as potential contacts of a positive case to attend school. The action will allow previously quarantined students to return before their quarantine period is complete.
Board member Melissa Batty cast the lone dissenting vote and cautioned her cohorts that the mitigation measures must be strictly adhered to.
“There cannot be a slip-up,” Batty said. “I don’t want that on my conscience that I allowed infected people onto campus and (they) infected others that eventually a student’s parent died because of that. I don’t want to see the child feeling guilty because they’re the ones (who) spread that disease to their parent who died.”
“As a school, it is our responsibility to provide a good education for our students in our district,” Batty said. “But it’s also the parents’ responsibility for that as well. It’s not solely the school’s responsibility.”
Roughly 32 community members were on hand for the meeting, and each one who spoke during the Call to the Public portion of the meeting was in favor of the mitigation plan.
Bonnie Richardson’s child got to experience the first day of kindergarten. Since then, however, she has been quarantined by the health department after a teacher’s aid in the class tested positive. Richardson said while for a kindergartener two weeks is not as big of a deal as to someone in later grades, she was worried about how the situation would play out the rest of the semester if the school continued on the same track.
“My concern is when she returns to school and somebody else – a lunch lady, an aid, somebody on the playground – tests positive, we’re going to relive this over, and over, and over again,” Richardson said. “And that’s no way to spend your kindergarten year.”
Amber Wilkens said her son’s teacher’s stopped posting the school work he was supposed to be doing from home while on quarantine. Rickert advised that shouldn’t happen and said he would look into the matter.
Healthcare professional Rachel Curtis spoke out about working in a COVID-19 environment while wearing a mask and that it was all that keeps her from having to be quarantined sometimes. She said she has three children at Pima Schools and spoke in favor of the new mitigation plan.
“I strongly encourage the board for allowing recently exposed students to remain in school while following safety measures,” Curtis said.
Those measures, according to Rickert, first start by providing notification to parents of quarantined students that they can come back as long as they don’t have symptoms, wear a mask, and practice social distancing. Upon return to school, the students will be instructed on the importance of properly wearing their masks. If a student has a mask that is not acceptable or does not have a mask, one will be provided for the student by the school. Students who have been deemed to have had close contact with a positive and contagious person will have to provide their own transportation to and from school as they will not be allowed on the bus.
Students who are deemed close contacts and decide to stay at home on quarantine will have their schoolwork performed remotely in some form or fashion, according to Rickert.
“This is something that we’re doing because we want kids in school,” Rickert told the Gila Herald. “But if we don’t take it seriously it could create some problems. We’re not oblivious, we’re just fanatical about making sure our students have every opportunity to get the best quality education.”
The efficacy of masks was lightly debated, with Batty questioning whether the school would be requiring N-95 masks as are used in a healthcare type atmosphere, and Rickert advising that the health department informs that having a mask on the possibly exposed asymptomatic student is safe coupled with social distancing and other mitigation measures.
