A unanimous North Penn School Board vote at a special action meeting Monday night has some residents breathing easier Tuesday morning.
In a 7-0 vote – board Vice President Christian Fusco and Dr. Wanda Lewis-Campbell were absent from the 5:15 p.m. virtual meeting – the school approved the revised district health and safety plan, with provisions that call for optional masking during periods of low and medium community risk, beginning in all schools and on buses and other transportation effective Tuesday. The motion to approve masking optional was made by Director Al Roesch and seconded by Director Cathy Wesley.
“There is a recommended action regarding the adjustments the CDC made impacting our health and safety plan,” said Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich at the start of Monday’s meeting. “Montgomery County now has a designation of ‘medium,’ and with that, we have a revised health and safety plan which would call for optional masking going into effect during a period of low and medium. In this case, since we are in medium, it would be mask optional effective (Tuesday), according to the motion, for all our schools and transportation.”
The board made its decision using guidance from the Centers for Disease Control’s new COVID-19 Community Levels and Indicators metrics.
According to the CDC, as of Tuesday, Montgomery County’s COVID-19 Community Level was designated as medium.
Per its website, the CDC uses three metrics to measure community levels: new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days. According to the CDC, new COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system.
A low community level, per the CDC, is less than 10.0 new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population over seven days, less than 10 percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over seven days.
A medium community level, per the CDC, is between 10.0 and 19.9 new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population over seven days, between 10 and 14.9 percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients over seven days, with fewer than 200 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over seven days.
According to the amended plan, the district will use CDC guidance regarding face coverings. Masking expectations also apply to visitors of district facilities, per the plan. The district will seek guidance from the CDC based upon data in the district and vaccine eligibility and availability.
Per the district health and safety plan, a low designation means students, staff and visitors can wear a mask based on his/her/their personal preference and personal level of risk. A medium designation states that immunocompromised individuals or those at high risk for severe illness should talk to a healthcare provider about additional precautions, such as wearing masks or respirators in public. Furthermore, anyone living with or having contact with someone at high risk for severe illness should consider testing for infection before gathering together and wearing a mask when indoors with them.
The Montgomery County Office of Public Health is updating its masking guidelines to align with the CDC community levels and indicators. As of Feb. 28, 2022, the county Office of Public Health website stated that the county is experiencing a high level of community transmission “and mask wearing continues to be an effective strategy for minimizing the spread of COVID-19.”
“At this time, Montgomery County Office of Public Health encourages schools to continue to require mask-wearing as recommended by the CDC,” states the website.
County Incidence and Positivity Data over a 14-day average, compiled from Jan. 31 to March 1, showed a 14-day average positivity rate of 17.66 on Jan. 31, but a decline to a 14-day average positivity rate of 5.69 as of Feb. 23, 2022. Daily positivity figures dropped from 12.96 on Jan. 31 to 3.08 as of Feb. 23, per county records.
According to Montgomery County, here are the latest COVID-19 incidence rates per municipality, as of week ending Feb. 17, 2022:
Roesch said the district should be inclusive of the immunocompromised people in the district.
“What should they do if they want us to help them take extra precautions?” he said.
Dietrich said any individuals that would like the district to consider any medical advice they are getting can submit the information to district administration “and our team would take a look at that.”
“If it’s an IEP or a 504 situation, we would see what we could do to accommodate,” Dietrich said. “We certainly would be mindful of that and try our best to accommodate.”
Dietrich said this goes for staff too.
“We will work with anyone that needs to have that special consideration,” he said.
Director Jonathan Kassa asked if there was any feedback from the teachers’ union on the matter.
“To the best of my knowledge,” Dietrich said, “they are fully aware of all this, and we have not received any feedback to the contrary.”
Kassa said the health and safety plan is a fluid document.
“If for some reason, we went in the other direction, there would be that masking mandate, once we get to a certain point,” Kassa said.
Dietrich confirmed masks would be back in effect under a high designation.
He said the county Office of Public Health, which reports to the county Board of Health, will be meeting with area superintendents on Tuesday on the CDC recommendations. The Mask-to-Stay provision will remain in place during the mask optional status.
After the vote, Roesch said his grandson has a sensitivity issue to masks and is very happy that the board voted to make masks optional.
Kassa said it has been a long journey as a community, one full of compromises, consensus and adaptation.
“As elected representatives of the community, it is important for us to make sure we are listening and responsive and our votes reflect that,” he said.
Director Juliane Ramic asked Solicitor Kyle Somers to clarify why the meeting was held on short notice.
“We got lots of feedback over the weekend on the timing of the meeting and the vote,” Ramic said.
Somers said the district’s health and safety plan was previously adopted by the board and revised once.
“It was a board-approved health and safety plan that set the requirements for a number of issues including the wearing of masks, and to revise the board-approved health and safety plan would require a vote of the board. In order for the board to vote to revise the plan, the only instance in which a board may take action is at a meeting of the board.”
Any meeting, he said, has to be advertised in advance in a newspaper of general circulation.
“Short of perhaps a meeting over the weekend, but even then, we would have not hit the advertising time necessary, this is the soonest the board could have met,” Somers said.
About 10 residents or taxpayers spoke during the public comment period, and a handful of them, like Upper Gwynedd resident Jane Hoenig, had their elementary-aged children comment on the masking issue.
Erin Blanc, of Hatfield, was sobbing on the phone during her comment period.
“My children asked me to say something: They’re done,” Blanc said between sniffles. “They’re done with the masks, and we’re not putting them back on again.”
Blanc said the district continues to “have a hold” on the residents and students with its health and safety plan.
“It’s very disappointing and disheartening,” she said. “The children are not harmed by COVID. We are done.”
Lansdale resident Roseanne Gad said that while other school districts in the county communicated the updated CDC guidance to their communities, North Penn chose not to do that.
“Instead, out of power, you decided to keep our children masked. We simply wanted to be heard,” she said, “as there are very real concerns with all the North Penn schools. Your lack of care for all other families has led to the decision you created.”
Jessie Bradica, of Upper Gwynedd, thanked the board and administration for holding the meeting with response to the CDC and county Department of Health guidance and voting to make masks optional. Bradica said the mask mandates have attributed to increased learning gaps, increased mental health issues, and increased division in the community, but there were declines in special education services and in developmental milestones.
“Here’s what didn’t change: steep increases in community spread during what was once known as flu season, and the fact that COVID has never been more harmful to children and teens than the seasonal flu,” Bradica said. “Mitigation strategies inflicted a level of harm to every single student in your care and that won’t be forgotten.”
Bradica then thanked Dietrich for 12 years of service and his leadership through “some of North Penn’s best and worst times.”
“Thank you for being an advocate for the health and safety of children and you will be missed,” she said.
Lansdale resident Jason Lanier said it was interesting that the CDC now says it is time to re-look at the data.
“Not that the data has changed in favor of what was supposedly a high condition, but what they’re doing is reworking the data because it’s politically disadvantaged for the Democrats going forward,” he said. “This is a political data problem; it’s not a COVID problem. It never has been. How can you have the same set of information and then decide to go optional? Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome.”
Lansdale’s Kunbi Rudnick said the past two years have been difficult for everyone.
“I want to thank you on behalf of those lives that were saved because of the intelligence we took with the mask mandates,” Rudnick said.
Lauren Reilly, of Hatfield Township, thanked the board for caring about students’ health and safety.
“I came and spoke at the meetings before the school year started when you were debating the health and safety pan and I asked at that time you don’t try to be public health experts and try to be scientists, and just follow the guidance published by the experts,” she said, “and I’m thankful that’s what you did in amending the health and safety plan.”
Diana Blystone, of Lansdale, called for the district to enforce anti-bullying when it comes to students who choose to continue to wear masks or not get vaccinated.
“I highly suggest you make it known to every principal and every person that works with our children that there is no bullying to be had by the kids who wear the mask and the kids who don’t wear the mask,” Blystone said. “Kids are already suffering with anxiety and things they never had to experience in their life.”
North Penn High School sophomore Lauren Selip, of North Wales, thanked the board for everything it has done for the students this year.
“I ask that the school board take into consideration the feelings of the students. I personally do not feel comfortable around unmasked students in schools,” she said. “I feel that North Penn has actually not done a great job in enforcing the masks. Quite often I see students not wearing them, or wearing them below their nose, or mouths, or on their chin, or they are messing with them. I honestly wish more attention would be paid to this.”
See also:
Montgomery County to Update Masking Guidance to Align with New CDC Guidance
County Health Dept. To Open New COVID Testing Site In Lansdale
Grand View Hospital Among First To Get Aid From State COVID-19 Strike Team
Wolf Administration Focused on Coordinating Federal COVID-19 Relief, Not a Statewide Mandate
As COVID-19 Cases Climb, Wolf Calls on Feds for Health Care Support
