Discussion of COVID-19’s impact on Tecumseh Public Schools bookended the board of education’s monthly meeting, Monday night, dominating the public comment segment at the start and resurfacing in Superintendent Robert Kinsey’s report at the meeting’s close.
“I truly feel like this is hurting our kids more than it is helping our kids,” Tedda Hogan, parent of two students, said during public comments. “Their grades are dropping, their mental health is different. They have no drive anymore. They’re no longer being able to be a normal kid.”
Parent Joey Hadsall asked the school administration to allow parents to take the liability of keeping their kids in school upon themselves.
Fellow parent Rusti Seaton agreed with Hogan and Hadsall, asking that the board place the decision whether to quarantine students who do not have symptoms of illness back into parents’ hands.
Taking another approach, parent James Kipps said that he believed a Sept. 2 letter the school district sent to parents was inaccurate in citing 63 O.S. § 1-505 as the legal basis for prohibiting students from in-person school attendance due to close contact with someone who is ill with COVID-19.
Kipps said this statute only applies to health department officials—not schools.
“We don’t send our kids to school sick. You don’t send our kids home when they’re well.” Kipps said.
The letter to which Kipps referred was sent out by Tecumseh Public Schools on Sept. 2, and stated that Pottawatomie County Health Department officials had made the district aware of updated guidance from the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
The updated guidance that the letter cites is a “Coronavirus/ COVID-19: Quarantine and Isolation FAQs for Oklahoma Public Schools” fact sheet from the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
According to the fact sheet, “Schools and parents have a duty under state law (63 O.S. § 1-505) to keep students home when they are in isolation or quarantine.”
Schools are required to notify health officials of positive cases and exposures and to use the State Infection Reporting System (SIRS) to update health officials on a daily basis in order to receive American Rescue Plan Act funding, according to the fact sheet.
School Board President Shawn Fleming thanked the parents for their comments and said “this does give us something to look into and check on.”
Toward the conclusion of the meeting, during his superintendent’s report, Superintendent Robert Kinsey said, “I wish I had better news.”
Two weeks prior to the meeting, the district had 13 cases, and last week, that number increased to 19 total cases, he said,—the highest number of cases the district has ever experienced. Typical numbers are closer to an average of five, and no more than 10, per week.
“With higher numbers of cases, there comes higher numbers of quarantines,” Kinsey said. “I appreciate the parents who came today and mentioned that. I’ve spoken to some of you personally, and so thank you for being here to share your thoughts. The last thing I’ll ever want to do is send a student home who wants to be at school.”
Kinsey said that the COVID-19 cases within the district include students, staff and their families, with one staff member in the hospital with COVID and a staff member’s husband in ICU.
Tecumseh Middle School has moved to distance learning and plans to return to inperson learning Monday, Oct. 18, he said.
“While we hear on the news that COVID numbers are decreasing, they’re on the decline, I hope that that trend comes to Tecumseh Public Schools very soon,” Kinsey said. “That’s just not what we’re seeing right now. At least not yet.”
Other news shared at the meeting was of a happier nature.
Cross Timbers Elementary School Principal Alisha Jonker presented the 3rd Grade Reading Sufficiency Remediation results for the 2020-2021 school year to the board.
One hundred and seventeen students took the OSTP test, and 71 students met proficiency from the test, Jonker said.
“With everything, including summer school, we ended up having zero students that needed to be retained,” Jonker said.
The board approved a resolution of the Board of Education of Tecumseh Public Schools for the annual school district election, including election for a board member from Office Number Two (2), a five year term.
This resolution specifies the eligibility criteria for candidates and time and date of the election, and will go to the County Election Board, Kinsey said.
The resolution set the date for the primary election as Feb. 8, 2022, and the date for the general election as April 5, 2022.
Qualified individuals must file with the Pottawatomie County Election Board to run as a candidate, Dec. 6-8, 2021.
The school board also voted to approve the District Title 1 Plan for the 2021-2022 school year.
The Tecumseh Board of Education convened into an executive session before returning to open session and approving the resignation requests of paraprofessionals Judy Schoenbaum (retirement), Jaimee Reeder, Angie Burks and Latasha Lewis; teacher Brenda Simpson; and middle school volleyball coach Amy Shelby (coaching only).
They also approved the hiring of the following personnel for the 2021-2022 school year on temporary contracts: Nicolas Spencer (maintenance); Ashley Acosta, Phillicia Newby and Mary Wyatt (child nutrition); Taylor Harris and Tracy Renolds (paraprofessional): Rachell Lindsey (school nurse); Ryan Null (custodian) and Cassie Jones (Edgenuity coordinator—extra duty contract).
