Back to stage 4

[Trainwreck20]

Neighbor with kids at DSISD says the middle school is apparently running ~10% masks (obviously not required there) and that there is a semi-formal agreement among parents to not test their kids

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Neighbor with kids at DSISD says the middle school is apparently running ~10% masks (obviously not required there) and that there is a semi-formal agreement among parents to not test their kids

There's an opt out of the mask wearing rule, which kid of defeats the purpose. But I get why they had to do that. My daughter said their school is at about 30% - 50% masked.

[ScoPro]

Dsisd?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Dsisd?

Dripping Springs

[CarnivalGal]

I know you can't read the whole article without signing up, but the headline pretty much says it all.

Any coincidence that LISD is making national news because of all the parents protesting masks?

https://hillcountrynews.com/stories/...KBf5Y.facebook

"While Leander ISD trustees heard more than two hours of public comment during a special meeting Monday night, county public health officials privately warned district personnel that level of COVID-19 infections "is unsustainable for a school district and for the surrounding county."

In an email, obtained by the Hill Country News, Dr. Amanda Norwood, medical director for the Williamson County and Cities Health District, told LISD Superintendent Dr. Bruce Gearing that the WCCHD has "grown increasingly concerned with the amount of cases and the amount of rapid spread throughout LISD as a district this past week."

Norwood recommended that the Gearing close the entire district for 10 days.

"The incidence rate of new cases for all of LISD is [about] 135 per 100k,000, which is about 2.7 times the amount of spread in the surrounding county," she said. "Multiple campuses for LISD have 2 or more active clusters on campus. Given known limitations in contact tracing and quarantining, we are concerned that exposed contacts will continue to convert to cases at an alarming rate this week. 43.4% of your cases are occurring in your elementary schools – the vast majority of which are in students. The entire Trauma Service Area that serves Central Texas only has 1 [pediatric] ICU bed remaining."

The most recent report from LISD shows that 357 people have tested positive across all campuses. According to the dashboard, 134 of those positive tests were reported on Monday and the majority are from students.

The email was sent to Gearing at about 6 p.m., directly before Monday's meeting conviened.

Norwood's recommendations include:

Universal masking policy that limits op outs to only those with medical exemption
Robust contact tracing
Required quarantine for at least 7 days (preferably 10-14 days) for identified close contacts
Virtual options for students who are unable to be vaccinated
"If you enact these policies, your district should be able to safely resume learning after 10 school days with minimal disruptions for the school year," she said.

Often angry protestors dominated the public comments portion of Monday's meeting. Trustee president Trish Bode had to recess the meeting early after members of the public shouted Gearing down as he tried to describe the reasons for implementing a mask mandate on all campuses.

Trustees voted 5-2 to keep the mandate and will re-visit the issue on Sept. 9."