Mask mandate keeps students in class

Mask+mandate+keeps+students+in+class

Charles Wegele

The Auburn-Washburn Board of Education held a meeting on August 22, 2021, and determined students and staff within the district are required to wear masks. Why is this?

According to the scorecard released by the district on August 20, there are 163 students and four staff members who have been quarantined. Of those students, 47 of them tested positive for the coronavirus and of the staff, three tested positive.

With some students and staff fully vaccinated, the number is likely lower than what it could potentially have been. This is important because compared to last year there were only 38 cases by November 12, 2020. This basically means within a week of school the district has had to quarantine 125 more students and staff than it did three months into last school year.

The number from 2020 eventually jumped to 56 within a week forcing the district to go full remote but it still took three months to get there. There have been 86 elementary students quarantined. There have been 42 middle school students quarantined. There have been 33 high school students quarantined.

The problem the district is dealing with isn’t the students and staff testing positive. The problem is the students and staff that have been sent home to quarantine. The district needs students in their seats and if someone tests positive when the rest of the class is wearing masks then no one has to quarantine. When someone tests positive and no one is wearing masks, people are going to have to quarantine. 

Having students and staff in class is a good thing for the district because students and staff were not very big fans of the hybrid method last year.The district knows it should do what it can to keep all students and staff safe and in the classroom not on a zoom call.