What It's Really Like

There has been a great deal of discussion in the abstract about the impact of the Delta variant in Vermont schools since the year began. Here in the real world, with real students, faculty, staff, and families, it's been excruciating. To give a real sense of what it has meant, consider these actual numbers in the St. Johnsbury School District. 

Thus far, we have had seventeen positive cases in our PK - 8 building through September 24, where more than three-quarters of our students are not yet able to receive a vaccine. There was promising news on a vaccine for 5 - 11-year-olds this week, and still, there's a way to go until it's available and our students are actually vaccinated. Of the cases we've had, thirteen are in PK - 6, where most if not all of our students are not yet eligible for a vaccine. We have had two positive cases in 7th and 8th grade, where some of our students are vaccinated. Finally, we had two cases where the individuals were not physically in school when they contracted the virus. 

Working with our Data Manager, I found that we average approximately fifteen students in each classroom, on the low side. The thirteen cases that have occurred so far in our PK - 6 classrooms affect almost two hundred families. Almost two hundred families.  

Nearly two hundred families have to pivot to remote learning. This is almost one-third of our student population. They all have to find child care or work from home. They all have to get to a testing center, get tested, and wait for the results. They all have to manage their lives differently since nowhere else in the state are masks mandatory. In addition, this could mean loss of wages for families and a ripple effect on businesses with vaccinated parents needing to take additional time off. 

Since none of these children can be vaccinated, the entire class needs to quarantine when there is a positive case. To give some perspective, with the two instances in our 7th and 8th grades, the impact is not nearly as significant. When close contacts are vaccinated, they do not need to miss school. We have a considerable number of our 7th and 8th graders vaccinated, so the impact on their learning was minimal. The disruptive effect on our PK - 6 students and their families is much worse. 

It is laudable that more than 87% of our adults have received at least one dose of a vaccine. Unfortunately, that does no good for the children who cannot get the vaccine yet and who realistically won't get the vaccine and be fully vaccinated until early December. And that is a very hopeful and optimistic timeline. 

Seventeen cases impacting almost two hundred families in the first five weeks of our school year in St. Johnsbury. In these late summer, early fall months, we can be outdoors often. We can spend time out of the building on our campus grounds. We also know that as the weather turns colder, that will get more and more challenging. 

It already feels hard, and the weather is cooperating with us. It feels like we are doing this alone. It feels like the rest of the state has moved on. The rest of the state, eligible for vaccination, has decided that school cases are not their problem, even though one of the best ways to bring down school transmission is to reduce community transmission. Schools should not be doing this alone. 

Seventeen cases impacting nearly two hundred families in the first five weeks of our school year. Despite the calls of medical experts, politicians, and educators for the current administration to do more. We need more. We cannot do it alone. 

Seventeen cases impacting nearly two hundred families in the first five weeks of our school year. 

In addition, this burden is falling on school principals, nurses, teachers, and staff. Principals are unable to be instructional leaders. Instead, they are making phone calls to families and assessing whether or not classrooms can stay open. Nurses are spending hours and hours contact tracing, as well as correcting misinformation being shared through the state COVID hotline. Teachers are juggling the responsibilities of remote and in-person learning, trying to thoughtfully and carefully build relationships that have been frayed over the past nineteen months. Staff members are being reassigned to different coverage areas on a daily basis as our need for substitute teachers dramatically increases. 

How much more can schools be expected to bear on their own? Asking for a friend...

Photo courtesy of www.cargocollective.com