The Fox C-6 School District has extended its requirement for students, staff and visitors to wear masks in district buildings through Feb. 1 because of the high number of positive COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County.
Board of Education members voted 4-2 during a special meeting held this morning (Jan. 21) via the Zoom virtual meeting platform to extend the mandate.
Krystal Hargis made the motion to continue the districtwide mask requirement until the next scheduled board meeting, and Jim Chellew seconded the motion. Those two, along with Michelle Chamberlain and Carole Yount, voted to extend the requirement, and board President Judy Smith and April Moeckel voted against the extension. Vicki Hanson participated in the board meeting, but she was not available for the vote.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 1) at the Fox C-6 Service Center, 849 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
“The thing for me that is kind of unusual is we mask up for a few weeks and celebrate the fact that cases come down in those buildings,” Chellew said before the vote. “Then we say, ‘OK, let’s not wear a mask anymore.’ It is like the mitigation we have to try to lower the transmission is abandoned when it starts working. That doesn’t make good sense.
“In light of the tsunami of infection we are dealing with now, I think it is important to keep extending this until we have some clear indication that the transmission has dropped off a cliff.”
During the special meeting, Superintendent Paul Fregeau recommended the board not extend the districtwide mask requirement and instead only have people wear masks in buildings that have a 2 percent or higher COVID-19 positivity rate among students and staff.
Moeckel said she wanted to follow Fregeau’s recommendation.
“I think the 2-percent plan creates consistency and continuity, and principals and teachers know how to effectively communicate what is happening in their buildings,” she said. “The students internalize what is happening in their own buildings and not what is happening across the district. They can’t understand that always. I think the flip-flopping causes misinformation, diversity and chaos. If we can find a plan, stick to the plan, I think we will see the fruition come about.”
Fox started the school year Aug. 25 requiring masks be worn in all buildings, but the board changed that policy Nov. 18 to strongly recommend but not require masks. As part of that change, though, the board agreed that there would be a mask requirement at individual buildings if the positivity rate rose above 2 percent among students and staff.
When the 2-percent threshold is met, masks are required at that building for at least 14 calendar days, and the positivity rate has to fall below that threshold before masks are optional again, according to the mitigation plan.
Tammy Cardona, assistant superintendent of secondary education, and Randy Gilman, assistant superintendent of primary education, said principals have reported students are complying with the 2-percent threshold plan with little pushback.
The district reinstituted a mask requirement Jan. 13, which was set to expire Monday (Jan. 24) if new COVID-19 cases had peaked and were on the decline.
Board members voted 5-2 Jan. 11 to approve that temporary mask requirement with Yount and Hargis voting against the requirement because they felt the mask requirement should have been for a longer period.
Smith, Chamberlain, Chellew, Hanson and Moeckel voted in favor of the temporary requirement.
Fregeau told the board that day that a doctor from Washington University who studies COVID-19 and an infectious disease specialist advised area superintendents that infections from the omicron COVID-19 variant was projected to peak between Jan. 14 and Jan. 21 and then drop.
The Jefferson County Health Department reported Wednesday (Jan. 19) that the county saw 2,766 new cases, which was a slight dip from the previous week when there were 2,806 new cases.
However, the agency also pointed out that the number of new cases probably was higher than what had been reported because of the recent difficulty finding COVID-19 tests and the increase in at-home testing.
Health Department public information officer Brianne Zwiener said the 2,806 cases reported the week of Jan. 2 to Jan. 8 was the highest number of cases reported in a single week since the first ones were reported in March 2020.
The Health Department also reported Wednesday that the county had seen eight more COVID-19-related deaths, bringing the total number of people in the county who have died from the virus to 406 since the start of the pandemic.
Schools
During the mask requirement that started Jan. 13, three of the district’s schools surpassed the 2-percent threshold. The district has 17 schools, along with the Don Earl Early Childhood Learning Center and Bridges alternative school.
Meramec Heights Elementary, which is just west of Arnold city limits, surpassed the threshold Jan. 14, and it was set to have a mask requirement in place until Jan. 31, said JP Prezzavento, Fox’s communication and instructional technology coordinator.
He also said Fox Elementary and Fox High schools, which are both in Arnold, surpassed the threshold Jan. 19. A mask requirement is set to expire at those buildings Feb. 3.
Prior to the temporary districtwide mask requirement starting Jan. 13, nine schools had the requirement in place – Fox Middle School in Arnold, Antonia Middle School in Barnhart, Seckman High School in Imperial, Hodge Elementary School in Imperial, Seckman Elementary School in Imperial, Rockport Heights Elementary School in Arnold, Sherwood Elementary School in Arnold, Antonia Elementary School in Imperial and Guffey Elementary School in Fenton.
District COVID-19 numbers
Fox reported the following number of positive COVID-19 cases in each of its buildings as of this morning:
■ Antonia Elementary – six out of 565 students and staff members
■ Antonia Middle – nine out of 602 students and staff members
■ Bridges – none, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Clyde Hamrick Elementary – none, 480 students and staff members
■ Don Earl Early Childhood Center – one of 270, student-and-staff population not listed
■ Fox Elementary – 10 out of 464 students and staff members
■ Fox High – 21 out of 1,982 students and staff members
■ Fox Middle – 18 out of 720 students and staff members
■ Guffey Elementary – two out of 583 students and staff members
■ Hodge Elementary – five out of 422 students and staff members
■ Lone Dell Elementary – one out of 465 students and staff members
■ Meramec Heights Elementary – six out of 546 students and staff members
■ Ridgewood Middle – seven out of 681 students and staff members
■ Rockport Elementary – seven out of 515 students and staff members
■ Seckman Elementary – six out of 614 students and staff members
■ Seckman High – 13 out of 1,937 students and staff members
■ Seckman Middle – seven out of 849 students and staff members
■ Sherwood Elementary – five out of 465 students and staff members
■ Simpson Elementary – four out of 419 students and staff members.
