Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The discussion at the August 31 Pocahontas County Board of Education meeting was led once again to the COVID-19 pandemic and precautions the school system is taking to keep students and staff safe as the new wave of cases increases in the county.
The debate concerning a mask mandate arose and school nurse Jenny Friel explained that the school system cannot – at this time – require students and staff to wear masks because there is not a mandate in place.
“We cannot force that on anybody because we are not under a mask mandate right now,” she said. “We do have forty-three students in quarantine which is very concerning, but we have to take a proactive measure because we’re not six foot distanced, and they’re not wearing masks, and they’re not vaccinated.”
At this time, the students are observing three-foot social distancing and are allowed to choose if they want to wear masks. Friel explained that when a positive case is discovered, contact tracing is done and any student who was exposed to a positive case and is not vaccinated must be quarantined.
“Until that is a mandate from our board of education, I’m not willing for myself, the staff, the nurses, to be mask enforcers,” Friel said. “It shouldn’t be on us. We can highly recommend, but it’s not our place to do that.
“That’s where I stand with that,” she continued. “The health department told me when I talked with Mrs. [Cindy] Wilfong that she does not feel it is the public health department’s place to mandate masks, if the governor is not mandating it. Our county is not as bad as it appears to be. She is very pleased because our numbers are actually good, and we’re still in a good color.”
During the debate, Dane Sizemore, a parent of two, said he is very concerned with the upswing in new positive cases in the county and asked the board to consider requiring all school employees and eligible students to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
“Last Monday, the FDA gave full approval to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine,” he said. “There is overwhelming evidence showing that this is both extremely safe and extremely effective in both slowing the spread of the virus and reducing the risk of severe illness and death for those that are exposed.
“It is safe; it is effective; it is free, and it is supported by everybody from the governor’s office to our own school nurse,” he added.
“So, to be blunt, when I get the daily COVID announcement like I got about an hour ago, it states all precautions are in place,” Sizemore continued. “That rings hollow to me because we’re not doing everything we can. I don’t think that can be true until every single eligible person in our school system is vaccinated.”
Sizemore referred to the required vaccinations that students must have to attend school and said the COVID-19 vaccine should be considered one of those requirements, as well.
“None of those requirements are political,” he said. “It’s not a political statement. It’s a matter of public health. They’re basic public health concerns. They’re not infringing freedoms. They’re part of our responsibility to take care of each other. That’s what I’ve always been proud of about my state and particularly Pocahontas County. I think we genuinely stand up to take care of each other.
“I strongly urge the board of education to demonstrate leadership and require COVID vaccines for every eligible person in the school system starting with staff,” he continued. “We know the storm is coming, and we also have the tools and knowledge to prepare for it.”
Board president Sue Hollandsworth read a letter from parent Erica Marks, who could not attend the meeting, but wanted to express her opinion on the mask mandate, asking the board to reconsider requiring staff and students to wear masks.
“We tried sending our oldest vaccinated daughter to middle school,” Marks wrote. “We watched cases and deaths climb in the county and region, as I am sure you have, too. We decided yesterday that, given the conditions in the school and the region, she will not be returning to in-person instruction until masks are required or the COVID-19 threat has receded to an acceptable level.”
Marks explained in her letter that while the virtual school option is nice, it is difficult for three children to be streaming three separate classrooms at the same time on the internet they have at home.
Marks wrote that she wishes the board would make a county-wide mask mandate so her children – and many other county children – could return to in-person education.
“Please do the right thing and require students and staff to wear masks indoors,” Marks continued. “Allowing people to congregate in classrooms while our county is designated as a place of high risk of community spread of a deadly virus is negligent.”
The board discussed making changes to the re-entry plan but did not add a mask mandate or vaccination requirement.
The following changes were added to the plan:
• Students and employees are required to quarantine if they are exposed for 15 minutes or more, within six feet without mask, and not vaccinated. Quarantine will be seven days with a negative test or 10 days without a test from the last time they were near the positive case.
• Vaccinated students and employees who are exposed to a positive case will be required to wear a mask for 14 days, with recommended testing on day three through five from the last exposure.
• Preschoolers at Hillsboro Elementary School will be eating in the cafeteria at small tables of four with plexiglass separating each student. A second layer will be to surround students with plexiglass walls.
In miscellaneous management, the board approved the following:
• School support organizations for fundraisers and school based fundraisers for 2021-2022
• The WV Pre-K agreement between Pocahontas County Board of Education and School Days Child Care, LLC, students attending August 24, 2021 through May 27, 2022, wherein the parties will collaborate to provide preschool services to up to 20 children, at a contract amount of nine equal installments of $8,333.33, not to exceed $75,000. Meals will be reimbursed to DSCC, LLC at the rate of $2.46 for each breakfast served and $4.32 for each lunch served. Contract retroactive to August 17.
• Memorandum of Understanding between Pocahontas County Board of Education and North Central West Virginia Community Action Association, Inc. – Head Start Program [NCWVCAA HS], retroactive to July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.
In personnel management, the board approved the following:
• Employment of Jay V. Miller as mathematics academic tutor at Marlinton Elementary School at $22 per hour, three and a half hours per day, up to five days per week, not to exceed $12,000, effective September 7, 2021 through May 13, 2022.
• Employment of Jessica L. McLaughlin as site coordinator of the “Communities In Schools” program at Marlinton Middle School, at state minimum salary based on degree and experience, effective September 7, for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year. Term of employment is 182 days, in addition to the days already worked. Term of employment shall be 200 days each year thereafter, provided grant funding. Salary to be paid for by the CIS grant.
• Employment of Jennifer L. McCarty and Dondi S. Stemple as after-school teachers at Marlinton Elementary School, at $22 per hour, four days a week, two hours per day, 32 weeks, not to exceed $5,632, effective August 30, 2021 to May 6, 2022.
• Employment of Jennifer L. McCarty, Rachel E. McComb, Denise W. Sharp and Charlie M. Hughes (substitute only) as after-school teachers at Marlinton Middle School, at $22 per hour, four days a week, two hours per day, 32 weeks, not to exceed $5,632, effective August 30, 2021 to May 6, 2022.
• Employment of Jeanette D. Wagner as teacher of homebound instruction for Pocahontas County Schools, at $22 per hour, effective for the 2021-2022 school year, as needed.
• Employment of P. Erwin Berry IV and Patricia Heinemann as substitute teachers for Pocahontas County Schools, at state basic pay, based on degree and experience, for the 2021-2022 school year, as needed.
• Employment of Matthew A. Buzzard as assistant varsity football coach at Pocahontas County High School for the 2021-2022 season, at a supplement of $750.
• Employment of Bradley S. Carpenter as seventh and eighth grade head football coach at Pocahontas County High School, for the 2021-2022 season, at a supplement of $1,125.
• Resignation of Rebecca L. Peteete as volunteer head cheer coach for the 2021-2022 season, retroactive to August 19.