Volume 53, No. 7
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Your Community Newspaper Since 1967
West G Mandates Masks for 1st Quarter of Year Staff Report West Geauga Schools will mandate the wearing of masks or face shields at its indoor facilities for the first quarter of the 2021-22 school year, said Superintendent Richard Markwardt in an Aug 13 statement. Markwardt said the change to mandating masks at West Geauga is intended to reduce, to the extent possible, the need for students and staff members to quarantine from school and activities if exposed to the virus. “Masks and/or face shields will
not be required at the district’s outdoor facilities, but it is strongly recommended that individuals who are not fully vaccinated continue to follow federal, state and local health authority guidance regarding masking and social distancing, including but not limited to CDC recommendations that in areas of substantial to high transmission such individuals wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings or during activities that involve sustained close contact with other people who are not fully vaccinated,” he said. Students will also maintain a
minimum of three feet social distancing, as recommended by the Ohio Department of Health, his statement said, and masks will continue to be required on school buses in all districts, due to an order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Markwardt said the mask guidance is intended to conform to local, state and federal legal requirements and health authority guidance. “Like the School Restart Plan designed to reopen West Geauga’s school buildings in August 2020,
these superintendent’s guidelines related to face masks represent a fluid document that is subject to change reflective of the recommendations of local, state and federal experts,” Markwardt said. “The need to relax or tighten these provisions will depend on a number of factors, including community spread of the virus, vaccination rate in the community, medical expertise, recommendations of the state and local health departments, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and any local, state or federal mandates.”
Board of Elections Hopes to Attract Young Poll Workers By Diane Ryder editor@geaugamapleleaf.com Teens ages 17 and older have an opportunity to learn the election process first hand, serve their community, earn $130 for a day’s work and qualify for scholarship money, Geauga County Board of Elections member Joan Windnagel told the West Geauga Schools Board of Education Aug. 9. Windnagel presented the board with a flyer from Kids Voting Ohio, a Worthington-based organization that provides public schools with curriculum and activities geared to inform young people about voting. According to its website, Kids Voting Ohio is a free, non-partisan, voter preparedness and civic education program with a mission to improve voter turnout in the 18 to 29 age group. According to U.S. Census figures from 2017, Americans 18 to 29
are the least likely to register and vote, with less than 50 percent participating in elections. In comparison, the voting rate for people in the 30 to 44 age group is about 60 percent, just under 70 percent in the 45 to 64 age group and more than 70 percent for those over 65. Windnagel said she is reaching out to all area high school principals to spread the word about the Kids Voting Ohio program, part of Kids Voting USA and supported by the Ohio Education Association, the Ohio Association of Election Officials, the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. “It’s gonna get 17-year-olds and seniors in high school to register to vote and get involved,” Windnagel said. “This program introduces them at a young age to the voting
DIANE RYDER/KMG
Geauga County Board of Elections Member Joan Windnagel describes the Kids Voting Ohio program to the West Geauga Schools Board of Education Aug. 9.
process in the state of Ohio.” An added benefit, she told the board, is a much-needed new source of potential poll workers. “Our poll workers (tend to be)
70 years old or older and when they sit in front of a computer, they’re petrified,” she told the board. “Kids aren’t afraid of computer technology and they may like to learn how government works.” Windnagel said helping out at the board of elections may fulfill some school programs’ requirements for community service, may qualify them for scholarship money through the Ohio Kids Voting program and pays $130 per day for working at the polls. “Poll workers are always needed,” she told the board, as she handed the Kids Voting Ohio flyer to West Geauga High School Principal Jay Bishop. For more information on becoming a poll worker, contact the Geauga County Board of Elections at 440-279-2030. For more information on the KidsVotingOhio program, visit kidsvotingohio.org.
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