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Date: 9/22/2021
LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow School Committee met to discuss vaccination rates in schools and the issue of potential student isolation during lunchtime on Sept. 14.
According to Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea, there are currently 18 active COVID-19 cases in Longmeadow and only six COVID-19 cases within the student population.
“Although we have seen some cases popping up since school started, it’s safe to say that the distancing strategies that we have in place and some of the other mitigation strategies are resulting in a different experience this year where we’re going to see far fewer students having to quarantine,” said O’Shea.
He offered an update on vaccination rates from seventh grade to 12th grade. According to O’Shea, they are seeing good numbers in regard to vaccination rates.
At Glenbrook Middle School, there are 118 seventh grade students and 55.93 percent are vaccinated. In eighth grade, there are 111 students with a vaccination rate of 66.67 percent. At Williams Middle School, there are 95 seventh grade students and a vaccination rate of 69.47 percent. In eighth grade, there are 130 students with a 70 percent vaccination rate.
At the high school, there are 234 ninth grade students with a rate of 65.81 percent. There are 225 10th grade students with a 69.33 percent rate. In 11th grade, 68.06 percent of students are vaccinated out of 216 total. Twelfth grade has 242 students with a 67.77 rate.
O’Shea also noted that these rates could be even higher than listed due to some students choosing not to disclose their vaccination status.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has implemented a universal indoor mask mandate in place for all schools until Oct. 1. There is also an opportunity to lift masks in schools for vaccinated individuals after Oct. 1 if 80 percent of the school community is vaccinated.
The School Committee will continue to review the current mask policy and the Board of Health will be meeting to discuss it on Sept. 27.
School Committee member Jamie Hensch brought up the issue of student isolation at lunch in grades K through 8. Students are spaced 6 feet apart and Hensch said he has heard many children feel sad that they can’t sit with their friends.
“Kids eating in a stairway, kids eating in a hallway, kids not eating with their friends … I don’t think it’s good for their social well-being. I think we made a decision there that has as many negative impacts as positive,” said Hensch.
O’Shea said that he understood the issue, but currently the spacing helps prevent unnecessary COVID-19 quarantines. If kids were sitting closer together and one tested positive for the virus, all would then have to quarantine.
“I think there’s a downside to that arrangement. We would love kids to be shoulder to shoulder at lunch, but the other potential downside is that it would result in a number of students being close contacts and having to quarantine,” said O’Shea.
He said that this is a policy they can continue to monitor and review.
“I will totally agree that it’s something that we should regularly review and if the numbers are on our side and the health indicators are pointing in the right direction, then we could reconsider that six feet standard at lunch K-8,” said O’Shea.
He also noted that the schools are allowing kids to eat outside as frequently as possible.
School Committee member Susan Bell also recognized the issue of spacing at lunch.
“We certainly don’t want the unintended consequences to be isolation,” she said.
Vice Chair Bronwyn Monahan requested that they discuss this with the Board of Health to see if they have any opinion or feedback on the situation.
“I understand about people being quarantined and that would be not ideal, but also to hear that students are sad and that is a time they usually look forward to, that’s difficult to think about as well,” she said.
During the meeting, O’Shea also discussed the COVID-19 testing methods Longmeadow Public Schools will be implementing. He said that they will first start with only doing close contact testing, also known as test and stay.
Test and stay testing will be for when someone was in close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual while at school. The samples will be collected using the BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test. Tests are administered daily for at least five days from date of exposure. If they are negative and not highly symptomatic they will be allowed to stay in schools.
O’Shea said they will also offer symptomatic testing in the future. This will be for individuals showing COVID-19 symptoms while at school. The samples will also be collected using the BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Test. Those testing negative with isolated or mild symptoms will then be allowed to stay in school.
Those interested in viewing the Longmeadow School Committee meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the LongmeadowTV YouTube page.