Coronavirus and the Schools

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[ZinWhit]

Earlier in this thread I spoke of Sen. Dallas Heard's appearance at this school.

The next phase of this political game.

"Douglas County Clerk Daniel Loomis said the Chief Petitioner is fellow board member Jasmine Geyer. Loomis said his office approved the petitions to be circulated for signatures last Friday.

Geyer said the effort is nothing personal against the two board members who she said “…are longstanding members of our community and are good people”. However, Geyer said the pair will not vote to end state mandates in the schools."

https://kqennewsradio.com/2021/09/29/re ... -district/

[Volkonski]

[raison de arizona]

Southern Oregon teens doing it themselves.

Students Petition for Ashland High School to Require Vaccines

Two Ashland high school students have started an online petition to convince the school board to put in place a vaccine mandate for students. The petition at change.org has garnered more than 800 signatures.

The students, Ashland High School student body co-presidents Luke Seely and Josh Datz, say their vaccine mandate proposal was informed by examples from other school districts.

“We’ve really taken our lead from the decision that came out of the LA Unified School District,” says Datz. “And their decision was that they would be able to verify that students were vaccinated and that students that were not vaccinated would enter their online independent study program.”

Datz says requiring vaccines is crucial because masking and social distancing alone aren’t enough. He and Seely cites an incident where a student tested positive for COVID after the first day of a retreat for incoming students, as the reason there should be a vaccine mandate.

“Our reasoning for this advocacy is that it is the only way forward for us to get out of this pandemic,” says Datz. “It is the way for us to ensure public health, it is the way for us to ensure the health of our economy, the health of our nation. But i think that we need to be personal about it, say that this is an issue of what can i do for my neighbor.”

Datz and Seely created the petition after they, along with Jackson County Medical Director Jim Shames, met with the school board to discuss the mandate.

“It was in response to the fact that coming out of that meeting we don't see a lot of direct action,” says Seely. “We didn't feel like there was any sort of comprehensive commitment to really diving into the details of this policy and seeing how viable it was. So we created this petition just as community members ourselves to say look this is what the public is expressing right now.“

Teachers and school staff will already be under a vaccine mandate beginning October 18th.

The school board is meeting again on October 11th. Datz and Seely are hoping the mandate will be on the agenda.

https://www.ijpr.org/education/2021-09- ... e-vaccines

[raison de arizona]

Supreme Court justice has turned down NYC teachers' appeal of the vaccine requirement

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday denied an emergency appeal from a group of teachers to block New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other staff from going into effect.

The teachers had filed for the injunction with Sotomayor on Thursday, in an effort to keep the mandate from going into effect Friday.

Under the mandate rules, the roughly 148,000 school employees had until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot. Those who didn't face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday.

In a statement, Georgia Pestana, the city's corporation counsel, said, "We are gratified by Justice Sotomayor's decision. She made the right call on the law and in the best interest of students and educators."

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/01/10426006 ... ol-vaccine

[Foggy]

[Sam the Centipede]

Well done New York and Justice Sotomayor.

In this thread we read that New York City requires employees in its schools to be vaccinated.

In the Spreadnecks thread we read that Alabama prohibits its schools and other public bodies from requiring their employees to be vaccinated. And the state intends to extend that ban to private businesses, because it seems freedom-lovers hate other people's rights, such as the right to avoid contact with disease-ridden scum!

A naive person might suspect that the existence of two polar opposite policies in the same pandemic suggest one of those policies is poorly chosen. The lengthening obituary columns in Alabama will confirm which one.

[raison de arizona]

[Suranis]

https://threader.app/thread/1445028657249112065

Theres a few pics in the thread i'm not carrying over. clink the link to see them

@OpossumPress

In Knoxville, children as young as 7 have to walk through mobs of parents calling them “sheep.” At times, they obstruct entrances making it difficult to enter the school. They have blocked the car entrances at the high school. This all occurs in Farragut.

This is occurring at Farragut Intermediate, Middle, and High Schools. The school has tried to get them off school property but the sheriff’s department isn’t helping at all. The refuse to enforce any mandate. This isn’t enforcing a mandate though. It’s protecting children.

This mob is there to protest a mask mandate that was ordered by a federal judge. Many of them do not have kids in these schools. Yet, they are allowed to bully and intimidate children. Parents and staff have asked the school district for help in this matter but none is granted.

(skip lots of email addresses)

This is their mentality. “Your kid can’t have peanut butter to protect MY kid but mine won’t wear a mask to protect yours. That goes against MY freedom.”

It was mentioned in the replies. It should be here too. Farragut is a very wealthy part of town. These aren’t “toothless uneducated rednecks.” They are privileged and entitled people who only care about themselves. Don’t attack poor uneducated people. They aren’t the problem.

Oh! Forgot to mention that @KnoxSchools is aware that this is happening. Their lawyer mentioned it in a motion filed on their behalf. They acknowledge it. They just haven’t addressed it.

There is a tweet linked in the thread that I'm going to post separately as I think its important

[raison de arizona]

► Show Spoiler

Hawley's bad take on the letter posted above:

[sugar magnolia]

Reading comprehension isn't her strong suit, is it?

[raison de arizona]

Arizona can’t use COVID money for anti-mask grants, feds say

The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the state’s federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates.

In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department said the grant programs are “not a permissible use” of the federal funding. It’s the latest attempt by the Biden administration to push back against Republican governors who have opposed mask mandates and otherwise sought to use federal pandemic funding to advance their own agendas.

Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August to put pressure on school districts that have defied the state’s ban on mask mandates.

He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. He also established a $10 million program that offers vouchers to families at public schools that require masks or that tell students to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure.

In the letter, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the conditions “undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.” He asked the state to explain how it will “remediate” the problem within 30 days.

https://ktar.com/story/4716408/arizona- ... -feds-say/

[keith]

Fitzroy school principal sanctioned for COVID lockdown breach

The principal of an independent primary school in Melbourne’s north who repeatedly invited parents to send their children to school while the city was in lockdown has had his teaching registration suspended over concerns he poses a risk to children.

The Victorian Institute of Teaching suspended Fitzroy Community School principal Timothy Berryman’s teaching registration on an interim basis on Wednesday, pending an investigation.

The regulator is the third authority to probe child safety standards at the small alternative school that Mr Berryman runs since The Age revealed its repeated breaches of public-health orders last month.
...
More than 60 students, staff and family members were infected with COVID-19 as a result of an outbreak at the school’s Fitzroy North campus last month.

[Dave from down under]

Charge him with child abuse/endangerment as well.

[Dave from down under]

New Premier - minor changes to out of Covid road map, but still -
All education and care workers in NSW must be fully vaccinated by November 8 if they want to continue working and health care workers must be double-dosed by November 30.

[LM K]

Hawley is equating long waits to speak at school board members with predatory government conspiracy?

Hmmm. People have to wait to speak when a lot of folks want to speak. School board meetings go on for hours even when they are scheduled for 90-120 mins so everyone can have their say.

It's not rocket surgery, Hawley.

[raison de arizona]

Something else worth mentioning is that in many cases, these so-called parents are not actually parents, and are even frequently people that don't even live in the district.

In other news...

Dad screams at N.J. school staff, initially refuses to take son home after COVID close contact, cops say

The father of a Beachwood Elementary School student who had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 initially refused take his son home to continue classes while quarantining and angrily shouted at school staff after being called by the school nurse, authorities said.

The man eventually took the boy from school after being told by the police school resource officer that the Division of Child Protection and Permanency would have to be notified if the student didn’t leave, Beachwood police said in a statement.

The incident unfolded when the father, who police described as “irate,” came to the school after being called by the nurse, police said. His son had been in close contact with another student who had tested positive for COVID-19 and would have to quarantine while continuing classes virtually, the nurse told the dad, according to police.

The man instead told the nurse that he wouldn’t take the boy home, but would stop by the building “to get some answers.”

Minutes later, he entered the school Wednesday by following contractors who had been buzzed into the building, police said.

Once inside, he began screaming at employees and repeatedly saying he wouldn’t sign out his son, police said. Classes were in session at the time, police said.

The nurse later told police she was “repeatedly interrupted and talked over by (the father) while she was trying to give him information on his child’s situation.” He eventually had to be escorted from the school.

“They also advised that he was irate and screaming once inside the office causing a disturbance inside of the school while school was in session,” according to police. “He shouted loudly that he was not taking his son out of the school. The employees, who were visibly shaken, advised that it took one of the male contractors to escort (the father) outside of the building.”

The father, who was neither arrested nor charged by police, couldn’t immediately be reached by NJ Advance Media on Friday.

Police also implored the public not to take out their anger on school workers following orders.

https://www.nj.com/education/2021/10/da ... s-say.html

Here's a thought, stop imploring are start arresting and charging. THAT will do a lot more to stop this unacceptable behavior than all your thoughts and prayers. Asshats.

[Flatpoint High]

[neonzx]

Anyone believe an actual lawsuit was served? Just a lot of theatrics.

[RTH10260]

‘medical malpractice lawsuits’ - can't that only apply to someone who actually performs medical procedures? Are school boards not protected similar to lawmembers of state and federal level?

[Volkonski]

[Azastan]

My spouse and I were talking about this today. I do not remember a single teacher/admin/staff person ever dying during an active school year. It would have been something which would have been announced, too.

My husband remembers that 28 persons of the acapella choir of Yuba City High School died in a bus crash in 1976, and that was it.

The fact that a school district has lost that many employees to a disease is profoundly disturbing.

[sugar magnolia]

My spouse and I were talking about this today. I do not remember a single teacher/admin/staff person ever dying during an active school year. It would have been something which would have been announced, too.

My husband remembers that 28 persons of the acapella choir of Yuba City High School died in a bus crash in 1976, and that was it.

The fact that a school district has lost that many employees to a disease is profoundly disturbing.

The only one I remember was Kathy Capomacchia Ainsworth, killed by the FBI in a KKK sting. She wasn't my teacher, but taught at the same school we went to.

[raison de arizona]

That's _all_ the state universities. Suck it, Ducey.


Story: https://tucson.com/news/local/all-three ... op-story-1