Updated masking policies were discussed during the superintendent’s report in the March 17 North Wasco County School District 21 (NWCSD) school board meeting. In it, Superintendent Carolyn Bernal broke down the different policy changes that have taken place since the March 11 lifting of Oregon’s statewide masking mandate. Starting March 14, it is now optional for students and staff to wear masks inside NWCSD buildings.
According to Bernal, approximately 25-35% of students and staff are currently choosing to continue to wear masks. “What we’ve really worked hard on with our student and staff community is … we just respect one another’s choice, regardless of whether they decide to continue masking or not,” said Bernal.
Currently, contact tracing and quarantine requirements are on hold, meaning the district is not performing contract tracing, nor are students or staff who have been exposed to COVID-19 required to quarantine. Students and staff who test positive for COVID are still required to isolate for five days. Once able to return, it is “highly recommended” to universally mask for the following five days. According to Bernal, students or staff who are experiencing any of the primary COVID-19 symptoms may still be required to isolate until symptoms improve, though not necessarily for the full five days. “One of the primary things (symptoms) that has to improve is you have to be fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication,” said Bernal.
The district will continue to update their weekly COVID dashboard without quarantine numbers, reporting the current number of positive cases within the school district. While D21 is not continuing its Test-to-Stay program, they are able to continue on-site diagnostic testing, which would allow them to test students who develop COVID-19 symptoms while at school, had their parents opted in to do so. “We can contact the parent to let them know and ask them, ‘Would you like us to go ahead and test your child,’ if they have the consent form on file,” said Bernal.
Bernal said that if the district does not have a consent form for a student on file, they can now send them home with at-home testing kits that parents can administer themselves.
Bernal also announced that the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) sent all school districts with Title 1 schools one test kit per student to go home with them before spring break. According to Bernal, all NWCSD elementary schools are considered Title 1, and each one received test kits for their students, which parents are encouraged to use at their own discretion. “They (parents) can use the test kits how they want,” said Bernal. “If they want to test their children prior to coming back to school post spring break, they can, or if they want to hold on to it and wait, and if their child’s symptomatic at some later time, then they can have the test at home for that purpose as well.”
According to Bernal, other mitigation measures utilized inside school buildings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 are still actively in place and are “probably elevated even higher.” She said they had been reviewed prior to the masking lift, and that staff have had a brief retraining on “everything we have in place that continues to keep our doors open and our keep kids and staff safe.”
Superintendent’s evaluation
Also taking place during the superintendent’s report, the school board presented its final superintendent’s evaluation for the 2021-22 academic year for board approval.
“Prior to tonight’s regular meeting, we had our second executive session with Dr. Bernal to go over her evaluation for this academic year,” said Board Chair Jose Aparicio.
According to the school board’s final evaluation, which was read by Aparicio, the process included two sources: A self-evaluation provided by Bernal, as well as the board member’s direct observations and experiences with her over the year.
“This year’s evaluation focused on four superintendent goals and eight standards of performance for superintendents,” read Aparicio. “The school board members felt that Superintendent Bernal has effectively performed all of her responsibilities in a manner which consistently met each of the eight standards.”
Aparicio read, “Superintendent Bernal has begun the process of establishing trust with the various stakeholders within the district and the community, she continues to listen and learn all that she can from each and every interaction that she has. She has a formed a strong relationship with the board, (and) she successfully worked with staff and administrators to safely reopen our schools for in person learning. She has started the very important process of strategic planning for D21, which will set the vision for the next five years.
“More work is ahead,” read Aparicio, “but superintendent Bernal is off to a great start.”
Director John Nelson made the motion to approve the final evaluation, which was seconded by Director David Jones. In a unanimous vote by the board, the evaluation was approved.
“Thank you, Dr. Bernal for everything you’ve done this year,” said Aparicio after the vote. “We look forward to all the great things we’ll continue to see from you as superintendent of D21.”
Transportation
During the Chief Financial Officer’s (CFO) report, CFO Kara Flath presented to the board a proposal to enter a three-year loan agreement to acquire five additional school buses as part of a transportation services contract with Sherman County School District.
According to the board motion for action item document, NWCSD submitted a bid to assist Sherman County School District (SCS) with their transportation services, which, according to Flath, was recently awarded to them.
“They (SCS) were going out looking for new busing services. We actually have a very competent transportation director, where she has the ability to do the training … so we put in a bid for that and we were actually awarded it this week,” said Flath.
According to Flath, the additional transportation program will be a “slight revenue generator for the district,” but in order to take it on, the district will need an additional five school buses.
“We can’t just go out and purchase five buses, nor do I think it would be financially smart,” said Flath, “The contract (with SCS is) for three years, so I’m looking at a three year loan for five buses.”
According to the motion for board action item document, “the cost of the buses, which is approximately $165,000 a year, will be on loan agreement for three years therefore all costs will be covered by the Sherman County School contract.”
According to Flath, NWCSD will own the five additional buses after the three-year loan agreement is up. She also said that NWCSD will be encouraging the Sherman County bus drivers who will be affected by the change in transportation programing to apply with the district. “We anticipate and hope that there will be plenty of drivers over in that area, because we will encourage them to apply for these positions,” said Flath.
A motion for approval of the proposal was made by Director Dawn Rasmussen and was seconded by Jones. The proposal was then unanimously approved by the school board.
To view the entire March 17 D21 school board meeting, go to the District 21 media channel on YouTube, or visit their Facebook page and click on the link.
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