FEATURED COLUMNIST
Quarantine Questions, ‘Can We Move On?’ Q&A With Dr. Michelle Rodriguez, Superintendent, Pajaro Valley Unified School District
Will COVID vaccines be required for school in the fall? overnor Gavin Newsom is directing the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to add the COVID-19 vaccine to other vaccinations required for in-person school attendance—such as measles, mumps, and rubella—pursuant to the Health and Safety Code sections 120325 - 120380. This is consistent with the overall intent of the law to reach “eventual achievement of total immunization” against dangerous childhood diseases. The COVID-19 vaccine requirements will apply to all “pupil[s] of any private or public elementary or secondary school[s]”. The COVID-19 vaccine requirements will be phased-in by grade span, grades 7-12 and K-6. Students will be required to be vaccinated for in person learning starting the term following FDA full approval of the vaccine for their grade span (7-12 and K-6). The regulations will take effect at the start of the following term, meaning either January 1st or July 1st, whichever comes first. This will also give both parents and schools sufficient time to prepare and implement. Based on current projections for full FDA approval for ages 12+, we anticipate the requirement would apply to grades 7-12 starting on July 1, 2022. Once the vaccination is a requirement, PVUSD will follow this requirement as we do for all other vaccinations.
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My child has been in quarantine 4 times now. By now I just feel like this is harassment just because we are not participating in testing. Why are we not closing the schools if cases of whatever variant is rising? ver the past ten days, we have seen a decline in the positivity rate both within the County and within PVUSD. We are also finding that through vigilant use of face coverings and the implementation of modified quarantine, where we provide testing of students exposed to COVID-19, we have been able to minimize transmission within the schools. As noted by Santa Cruz County Public Health, very few cases have likely occurred through the person-to-person school setting.
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As a concerned parent/community member, I am frightened by the fast rate of increasing COVID cases in our community and schools. Do you think there is a
possibility of our school district to shut down and go back to distance learning? he health and safety of our students, both social emotional and physical health, continues to be our number one priority. As we believe in-person instruction is the safest learning environment for our students, PVUSD does not have any plans at this time to return to distance learning. We have maintained schools open safely over this past surge and have the systems in place to continue to do so.
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Are our schools being turned into medical facilities, where teachers and administrators dispense medical advice on masking, testing, and vaccination? What happened to getting an education at school and learning the three R’s (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic)? Omicron is mild. We have had flu epidemics in the past and never did this nonsense. Why can’t we just move on? VUSD has dedicated significant time and resources to ensuring that students can stay at school with in person learning through the CDPH modified quarantine protocol. The protocol as outlined by CDPH does require that students, once exposed, to be tested twice during the 10-day period to remain in school without disruption. Although the testing does create a short disruption during the day, it does allow the remaining six hours of in-person learning to occur. We will continue to focus on the use of face coverings and testing after exposures until conditions and the CDPH guidelines change.
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You put in these requirements for students to wear masks but I do not have the money to keep purchasing all of the masks. Are you going to provide them for students? ver the past two weeks, school sites have received two additional shipments of student sized face masks. If your child needs an appropriate face mask, request them from the site administrator.
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When a student is sick, test positive and quarantines, why are you requesting a negative PCR test post infection when the CDC states that “patients who have recovered from Covid 19 can continue to have detectable SARS-COV2 RNA in upper respiratory specimens for up to 3 months after illness.” Hospitals don’t retest after infection. Why are we?
24 / February 15th 2022 / Aptos Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com
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t is recommended that an antigen test (rather than PCR test) be taken on the fifth day of quarantine. Nevertheless, the negative antigen test is only required if a student wishes to return after their fifth day of quarantine. If they do not wish to test, they may return without a test after the 10th day as long as they have no symptoms. The PCR tests that Inspire uses (CARESTART COVID-19 mdx rt-PCR) are not FDA approved and the swab tips are sterilized with a known carcinogen (ethylene oxide). If our children develop sinus cancer in 5 years from the excessive testing, who do we sue? oth the Inspire Diagnostics PCR and antigen tests are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). You can find the FDA approval letters for CARESTART (Antigen test) and TaqPath Assay (for RT-PCR test) on our PVUSD Health and Safety website. Within the letters dated April 12, 2021 and Oct. 12, 2021, they state: “This EUA will be effective until the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 is terminated under Section 564(b)(2) of the Act or the EUA is revoked under Section 564(g) of the Act”. The tests are not hazardous to our students and staff. The Ethylene Oxide is used in the process of the swab sterilization but there are no residues of it in the swab.
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Now that approvals of intra-district transfers are based upon a lottery, can you please explain the process? Also, what is the date of the lottery? n a continued effort to support parent choice, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District had an Open Enrollment IntraDistrict Transfer process for the 2022-2023 school year from Nov. 29-Jan. 28. This process allowed families living in the PVUSD attendance area the opportunity to choose another school within the district for their child(ren) to attend in grade Kindergarten through 12th grade. Intradistrict Transfers received during the Open Enrollment period are entered into a database with the information of the school requested and the grade level the student will be entering if approved. Upon Open Enrollment closing, the Student Services Department meets the week after to verify the projections of attendance by grade level for each site.
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This informs us of the number of openings available at each grade level. The lottery process then begins based on the number of openings at a site grade level. We take all requests for that grade level (at each site) and use a computer based random number generator for each family request made. For example: If we received 10 requests for a site’s 5th grade class, each of the 10 families is assigned a number based on the random generator. If there are only 5 spots available, the families identified as spots 1- 5 would receive approval letters and a phone call from Student Services. The remaining 6-10 will be placed on a wait list in that order. Families will be notified if they are placed on the waitlist. If a space becomes available during the school year, Student Services will call the next family on the waitlist and offer the spot. We will continue to approve intradistrict transfers when the staffing and facilities are able to accommodate the request. Elementary lottery Feb. 18-19. Notification Feb. 22-28. Secondary lottery: Feb. 23-25. Notification: Feb. 28-March 4.25. If you are a family that missed Open Enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year, you can still apply. The timelines for notification are below.
If vaccinated and unvaccinated children can receive and transmit COVID, why aren’t whole classes that have been exposed through in-class exposure restricted from the after-school programs instead of just the non-vaccinated students? ince the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, PVUSD has been committed to protecting our school community by closely adhering to guidance from the California Department of Public Health. Under operative executive orders, State Public Health Officer Orders, Cal/ OSHA Workplace Safety and Health Regulations, and provisions of the California Health and Safety Code, all schools must comply with orders and guidance issued by the California Department of Public Health and relevant local health departments to limit the spread of COVID-19 and protect public health.
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“PVUSD Q&A” page 26
