This message from Carney-Nadeau Schools Superintendent Adam Cocco about the “universal mask” mandate that starts Monday after an “unprecedented number of COVID positive cases” in the Menominee County district:
As you know, we received reports on an unprecedented number of positive COVID cases this week. The first reports of positive cases came on Sunday evening, at which time I raced to the school in order to contact trace and quarantine. I did this to ensure that no exposed students attended school the next day. Subsequently, on Monday, we had some 92 students absent. The vast majority were out on quarantine, or were siblings of students on quarantine who were being kept home via parental choice (a choice I respect).
Several more positive cases were reported on Monday, and by day’s end it appeared that 120-130 students would be absent the remainder of the week due to quarantines. That’s over half our student population, and at that point we decided to close school for the rest of the week both to prevent the further spread of this outbreak and because it’s simply not feasible to teach when more than 50% of our students are not present to receive instruction.
We are going to resume our operations on Monday, September 27th. A fair portion of our students currently under quarantine are able to return on that day, as their quarantine timeline will have elapsed. An equally large portion of our quarantined students are able to return on Tuesday, the 28th, and almost all of our kids currently under quarantine (as of this writing) are able to return to school on Friday, October 1st.
Folks, we have to make some changes here to ensure that our doors can stay more consistently open without compromising the safety of our students and staff. In all that follows, please know that these two ends are our only goals: we want fewer kids missing school without compromising safety. That is all we’re seeking to accomplish with these new protocols.
Starting on Monday, September 27th, Carney-Nadeau Public School is enacting a universal masking protocol for all students in grades GSRP-12 and for all staff members/visitors/parents entering the building as well. Universal masking allows us to shrink the zone for contact tracing down from within six feet to within three feet.
This is going to dramatically decrease the number of kids placed into quarantine by dint of close-contact tracing.
With fewer kids on quarantine, we will then have the capacity to test quarantined kids each morning. Those who test negative will be allowed to attend school but will be tested again on days three and five of their quarantine timeline.
These morning tests will begin on Monday, October 4 and will be administered to any student under quarantine at that time whose parents elects to send them. I emphasize here that this is optional. Should quarantined students or their parents so choose, they may serve their quarantine at home before coming back to school.
This system of testing quarantined kids only becomes feasible when the masking mandate is in place. We simply don’t have the capacity to test the 130 kids currently under quarantine in a way that both keeps everyone safe and allows them to return to their classrooms in a timely manner.
The masks allow for the close contact zone for tracing to shrink to three feet. A smaller close-contact zone means fewer close contacts, which means fewer quarantined kids, which means fewer tests have to be administered each morning before quarantined students who test negative can safely return to their classrooms—all of which translates into far fewer absences.
In instituting this mandate, we are following the rules specified to us by our local health department. Those rules stipulate that masks do not need to be worn while students are outside, so no masks need to be worn at recess. The rules also stipulate that universal masking only applies to the hours of the regular school day.
In other words, masks are not required outside of the hours when school is in session which means no masks at sporting events, practices, etc that occur after 3:21 pm.
I will be the first to point out the gap in logic here, but again, we are following universal masking rules as a means to shrink our zone of close contact from six feet down to three feet. If we follow the rules that were specified to us, we can halve that zone and in doing so we can sharply reduce the number of quarantined kids.
We’re not going beyond those rules; we’re following them.
I realize that few issues in recent memory are more polarizing than masks, and it isn’t at all easy for me to click “post” on a message that I know is going to anger parents. We’ve worked very hard over the years to strengthen our relationship with parents and members of the surrounding community, so to enact a policy that strains those bonds is honestly one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. But our school is currently closed, folks, and we have to take steps to both open it back up and keep it open in the future without compromising safety.
I respect the opinions of anyone who disagrees with these policies; I just ask that you please consider what we’re hoping to accomplish by enacting them. These policies will be reviewed, at a minimum, on a monthly basis, and the moment they no longer become necessary will be the very same moment that masks will come off.
I’ll close by saying that Carney School is such a precious entity within our community, but as is true of most precious objects, it is fragile. It is fragile, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that over the years, this school has literally made me physically ill with worry on more occasions than I can count. Just the same, though, I’ve come to love it and I love it in the very same way I love my own sons. It is my home; it is who I am, and, professionally speaking, it is virtually all I know.
Presently this school faces one of the greatest challenges in its entire history, but I know we will get through it. Together.
Thank you,Adam Cocco
Superintendent
Carney-Nadeau Public School
Carney-Nadeau Public School
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