Mask and Quarantine Policies at HSE Schools
HSE Schools released a new all-student and all-staff mask requirement on Friday, August 13, 2021 via a weekly email update. There are various opinions, emotions, and frustrations held by many students, teachers, and parents in the district, some for the issue and some greatly against requiring masks.
Bottom line: Fishers One believes using a mask should be a choice made by the family and NOT required by the schools. Check our Facebook Group for updates on any progress made with the new mask mandate.
The issue of quarantining students in HSE Schools is a hot topic and one many of us in Fishers One are diving further into. If it has not affected your child by now, it is bound to happen at any time. The current school policy sets our children apart and discriminates against children who are choosing one health route over another, as well as being a violation of personal, private health information.
It is not fair to deny in-person education to some and not to others based solely on contact tracing and injection status. We cannot afford to align with the mindset of "sick until proven healthy” any longer at the sake of our children’s mental health. Like with any illness, if a child is sick, of course they should stay home, but sending healthy kids home to isolate for a time period REGARDLESS of their wellness status is abuse and disruptive to their long-term development and education.
Last year when this happened, there were virtual options available, and the children could keep up with what was going on in class. Now there are few virtual options, and the student is expected to wait on their teachers to reach out and communicate with the student for their assignments, at the leisure of the teachers to stay informed and caught up with the class.
There is also no limit to the amount of times a student can be contact-traced. What’s to keep the same student from being set out for multi-days quarantines time and again? This is where the policy is failing and isolating our students.
Per the HSE Skylert dated August 13, 2021, the current policy stands:
“This change is reflective of what local and state health departments have messaged to schools.
A benefit of universal masking is that it will allow us to limit the number of students and staff quarantined by contact tracing at 3-feet versus at 6-feet in the classroom-setting only. (This is very subjective and test info often comes DAYS later, forcing staff to recall students from memory.)
Another change we are making is reducing the length of quarantine for unvaccinated students and staff. (Isn’t that a violation of personal, private medical information to discriminate between the two? The CDC even announced on August 5, 2021 that BOTH can get sick and transmit the virus. In essence, to stay in school, you’re asking for their proof of injection and that’s against the law!)
The CDC gives options for reduced quarantine which include:
10-day quarantine with return to school on day 11, or
7-day quarantine with a return to school on day 8, if a negative PCR test was obtained on day 5, 6 or 7 from date of exposure. Result must be given to school nurse prior to student's return to school.
In both circumstances, individuals will need to be symptom-free and will also need to maintain distancing and increase personal hygiene for the full the 14 days.” -HSE Schools
We at Fishers One understand this is a very difficult situation and the goal is to keep schools open this year. However, maintaining freedom of health choice is important not just for ONE student, but for the entire community. This current policy isolates, identifies, and segregates our students for their personal health freedoms and choices. When we break students down one at a time, isolating healthy children and denying them access to in-person school and extracurricular events based on an injection status and not actual current health status, we are slowly breaking down the community as a whole.
We have to respect health freedoms and realize not everyone has the same perspective on the health options available at the time. Health freedom and freedom of choice is what we want to preserve. What works for one family may or may not work for another family.
Next Steps: Please write your HSE school board and superintendent on this critical quarantine issue. Our kids are depending on us to speak up for them. You can also join Stand For Health Freedom to learn more and get empowered in a community of like-minded people looking to maintain freedom of health choice without discrimination!