Moscow School Board extends mask policy through early April

The Moscow School Board voted to continue its mask requirement in district buildings through the end of the third quarter, April 7, at a board meeting Wednesday night.

The school board also approved updated isolation and quarantine protocols following recommendations from Moscow School District Superintendent Greg Bailey.

“We’ve been discussing it with other superintendents in this region who are starting to see an increase and looking at what we can do to help reduce our numbers as much as possible and keep our schools running during this short period of time,” Bailey said. “We’re trying to not be the location that is causing our community to have a major outbreak.”

The school district has reported 105 total COVID-19 cases in its schools, with seven cases that are currently infectious. According to Bailey, some students are out of class for being in close contact with someone who tested positive.

“In mid-September, we started seeing a spike and then as we got closer to Christmas break it started dropping,” Bailey said. “Now it’s starting to rise again, as well as our absenteeism related to COVID-19.”

He says local officials at Public Health – Idaho North Central District expect daily new cases in the community to peak in about a week or so. The health agency has reported 184 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Latah County just this week.

At the meeting, Bailey read a letter recently sent to the school district signed by 57 medical professionals in the community.

“Your local health care leaders continue to recommend universal masking in K-12 schools for all students, staff and educators, at least through the expected surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant the next six weeks,” the letter states. “The omicron variant, now the dominant COVID-19 strain, is more contagious and is leading to increased rates of illness within the Moscow School District and our community.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently modified the K-12 isolation and quarantine guidelines, allowing for an earlier return to school after COVID-19 infection.

The recommendations were reduced to five days instead of 10, depending on the symptoms, along with a shorter quarantine period for exposed students.

“We think this will help reduce the frustration parents are having with their kids being out for so long,” Bailey said. “People who are vaccinated are more likely to be masked and monitored for 10 days and be able to stay in. Same with people that have tested positive within the 90-day period.”

In other business, recently reelected Moscow School Board members Ken Faunce and Brian Kennedy were sworn in and took the oath of office at Wednesday’s meeting.

The school board also approved the use of discretionary funds from the latest round of federal stimulus dollars for elementary and secondary schools, called ESSER III, to replace the HVAC system at McDonald Elementary School.

“I think it’s a great use of funds,” Moscow School Board Vice-Chair Jim Frenzel said. “Any improvement to the ventilation systems is going to be a major step forward.”

The current low-pressure heating system at the elementary school requires more frequent, intensive and costly maintenance than any other district building, according to Moscow School District Operations Director Charlie Gerke.

The district plans to use $1.5 million of ESSER III funds for the $1.95 million project and is seeking grant funding to cover the remaining costs.

“We have felt for a while that we’re on the brink of a serious failure in that building,” Gerke said. “The whole infrastructure underneath the school, the condensate return lines and the steam lines are all on their last legs.”

He added the school district has several grants it’s applying to by the end of this month. If the grant funding doesn’t come through, the project would have to be split between this year and next year.

In that scenario, the school district would need to figure out how to take care of the balance by either pulling money from general funds or using some of its plant facility funds.

“That’s not the preferred option,” Gerke said. “It creates another level of difficulty if we do part of the project one year, stop it for a while, and have two systems operating parallel. We’re going to try our hardest to get some grant funds.”

The school district hopes to order the initial round of equipment by mid-February and schedule the work to be done this summer.

During the meeting, the school board also approved the sale of 638 outdated Chromebooks to Tech Defenders, an electronics repair shop that helps school districts and other organizations maximize the value of aging devices.

The Chromebooks are about 8 years old, according to Gerke, and valued at $0-10 each depending on the condition and whether the chargers are included.

“As our technology gets outdated it must be disposed of or recycled,” he said.

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.