Hempfield nixes mask requirement, changes school's covid-19 tracker

Students in Hempfield Area School District identified as close contacts who do not test positive for covid-19 or show symptoms will be permitted to attend in-person classes rather than quarantine, the school board said.

The vote Monday was one of several made in a meeting during which board members nixed implementing a mask mandate and made changes to the school’s covid-19 tracker.

“This is about keeping healthy kids in school,” board member Jerry Radebaugh said. “This is about keeping kids that were contact traced in school and not at home. … We eventually want to get out of the contact tracing. That’s not going to happen right now, but this is the next step forward to getting to that.”

Contact tracing will continue, according to board solicitor Michael Korns. But if a student is identified as a close contact of someone with covid-19, parents will be informed and will have the option to keep sending their child to school unless they test positive or show symptoms.

The motion passed with board members Diane Ciabattoni, Paul Ward and Jeanne Smith opposed. Board member Vince DeAugustine abstained.

Discussions descended into a heated debate during the more than two-hour meeting, with some turning to political arguments as officials worked out how to proceed.

“I cannot believe we did not have this meeting with other people who deal with this every day,” DeAugustine said, suggesting the meeting should have included school nurses and principals, as well as Lisa Maloney, supervisor of pupil services.

Board member Jennifer Bretz suggested parents are frustrated with how the district has been handling “close contact” cases.

“We’re putting the rights back to the parents,” Bretz said of the vote to change quarantine requirements.

Board member Scott Learn added, “I think things are lightening up. … I think making some moves and not be so restrictive I think would be better. Get these kids back in school.”

In addition to changing quarantine guidelines, board members nixed a motion that would require students and staff to wear masks. That motion was put on the agenda following a discussion during the last meeting as covid cases continued to rise across the district, impacting staffing.

The motion ultimately failed, with Smith being the lone vote in favor of the mask mandate. DeAugustine abstained.

“In looking on the Pennsylvania tracker, Westmoreland County, I think we’re actually on a pretty good downtrend,” board member Paul Ward said. “To me, it feels like going to masks at this point, if we were going to do it, it’s a couple weeks too late. Probably Jan. 4 would have been the time to do it.”

Covid-19 tracker

Board members also voted to update the data displayed on the school’s covid-19 tracker, which reported the number of individuals who were in class while contagious over a 14-day period.

The tracker now will reflect cases over a five-day rolling period to account for federal guidance released last month. People who test positive for covid, or who are identified as a close contact of someone with it, do not need to quarantine for more than five days as long as they are symptom-free, according to the new guidance.

Changing the time period covered in the tracker ultimately will reflect a lower number of active cases.

For example, last week 184 cases were reported on the tracker among staff and students. Of those, 157 were on day six of their quarantine period, meaning they could have returned to school as long as they were no longer showing symptoms. If the tracker reflected a five-day period, there would have been about 27 covid cases.

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said the most important part of the tracker is at the bottom of the web page, which shows new cases over time, regardless of the rolling period at the top.

The chart shows a spike in cases between Jan. 3-24. According to Wolicki, of the 109 staff cases reported since the start of the school year, 60 have been reported since Jan. 4, or 55%. In addition, of the 838 student cases, 388 were reported this month, or 46%.

“Whether you count an active case for five days, 10 days, 14 days, whatever number, I think the data here is showing we have a spike in our schools,” Wolicki said. “As we look at the period from the return from the holidays to today, which is 20 days, that’s where we’re seeing the largest number.”

Still, board members voted to move forward with changing the tracker. Ciabattoni and Smith voted against the motion. DeAugustine abstained, saying he needs more information.

“My goal … is to keep the schools open,” Ciabattoni said. “We are losing staff to this. We are losing custodians, which means the schools, as hard as we try, are possibly not being as cleaned as well as they need to. I am still very concerned. I still think we’re in the peak of this. I don’t mind the tracking going a little less … but I’m not happy with this.”

Other board members suggested updating the tracker will provide more accurate information to the community.

“I’m not trying to adjust the number down,” Radebaugh said. “I’m trying to make the number what I feel is more accurate.“

Learn added, “It seems like we’ve got to narrow this down, which is what the CDC is trying to do here. I think we have to look at it realistically, too, because I think we’ll put more kids back in school.”