OKLAHOMA CITY — Citing a desire to leave the decision to local school districts, the Oklahoma State Board of Education declined to implement statewide mandatory COVID-19 safety protocols last Thursday.
Instead, the color-coded safety proposal approved by the board from the state Department of Education is “strongly recommended” through at least Sept. 30, depending on the continued transmission rate of COVID-19 across the state.
Board members Estela Hernandez, Bill Flanagan, Brian Bobek and Jennifer Monies voted in favor of making the protocols recommendations rather than mandatory.
“We need to be putting out guidance to districts to help make decisions, but ultimately, they should be making this call,” Monies said.
As presented, the proposal includes a five-level color coded alert system similar to the one used by the Oklahoma State Department of Health based on the number of cases per capita within a county. The alert levels are updated each week.
The proposal offered minimum thresholds for instructional delivery, health protocols, mask requirements for students and staff, visitor restrictions and whether to hold in-person public events, including spectator sports.
A school district straddling two or more counties would rely on the alert for the county in which its administrative offices are located. The proposal also included language for local overrides if a county’s per capita case count was skewed due to an outbreak in an enclosed community, such as a prison or nursing home.
Using similar baselines as the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the lowest level, green, would be for counties with 1.43 cases for every 100,000 residents. At the time of the meeting, only six counties – all in northwestern Oklahoma – met that criteria. At that level, school districts would be expected to have in-person classes and encouraged to use masks, but not required.
As of the time of the meeting, most counties in the state were at the yellow level, with a per capita case count between 1.44 and 14.39. Masks would be required for all staff and students, with students in third grade and younger allowed to take them off in class if they stay with the same group all day.
Orange Level 1 is for counties with a per capita case load between 14.40 and 24.99. At that level, districts are encouraged to make schedule accommodations to limit the number of students in the building at one time in order to facilitate social distancing. District facilities would not be available for any extracurriculars, including sports, if social distancing cannot be observed.
Orange Level 2 is for counties with a per capita case load between 25 and 49.99. Districts would need to limit building access to all but 25 percent of students, with priority consideration to special education students or those unable to access the district’s distance learning program at home. All other students would be expected to use distance learning until the area’s per capita caseload dropped down to qualify for the yellow level.
At the time of the meeting, only three counties statewide met the threshold for Orange Level 2: Jackson, McCurtain and Okmulgee.
None met the threshold for red, which is for counties with more than 50 cases per capita. At that point, districts would be required to go to distance learning for all but 15 percent of students, with priority consideration going to those in special education or unable to access the district’s distance learning platform. The buildings would have to remain closed until the county’s per capita case rate dropped to below 25 for every 100,000 residents.
A resident of Kingfisher, board member Kurt Bollenbach attempted to broker a compromise in an effort to give “political cover” to local school boards in areas where residents have largely balked at wearing masks.
“I understand the need for local control,” he said. “The instructional piece and mask piece can cause the most consternation. Where I live...the mask issue becomes a hot button topic. Part of our duty can be providing top cover for those local districts. It’s much easier for a district to say ‘It’s coming and this is how it is going to be.’”
An attempt from Bollenbach and Carlisha Williams Bradley, a board member from Tulsa, to have the board reconsider the vote and only make the district shutdown thresholds as non-binding failed.
The four members who voted to make the proposal non-binding pushed back at Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s characterization that their decision was insufficient to protect the health and safety of students, school staff and their families.
“I think the color system is fine for information, but the final decision really needs to be left to the school district,” Flanagan said. They have the most current information about the status and the safety of those particular kids that are entrusted with their safety.”
“I really think the county-wide stuff is so broad. If you have a nursing home or a meatpacking plant in your district and you have an outbreak at one of them, your numbers will go as high as the sky, but your school is OK.”
Districts still have the option to implement more stringent safety requirements if they so choose.
For example, the board of education for Oklahoma City Public Schools, the state’s largest traditional school district, voted earlier this month to delay the start of the 2020-2021 academic year from Aug. 10 to Aug. 31 and conduct all of its classes online for at least the first nine weeks.