BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - The region's top school officials are confident in the guidelines created by the Erie County Department of Health, though parent advocates still believe there needs to be more done for ensure kids stay in school this year.
Erie County on Monday unveiled its school guidelines which includes as mask mandate and a recommendation to maximize physical distancing when possible.
"I felt quite involved (in discussions)," Hamburg Superintendent Michael Cornell, who is also the President of the Erie Niagara Superintendent's Association, said. "It was a broad based group of us...and the conversation bounced back and forth from a larger group to the smaller group. The acknowledgement of taking the public health imperatives of the Erie County Department of Health and then trying to balance them against the operational realities of what it looks like to run a school with real teachers and real kids every day, those things are difficult to blend together."
Cornell said those conversations previously never happened with the New York State Department of Health.
Lynn Fusco, Superintendent at Erie 1 BOCES, said the conversations between school officials and the county have happened throughout the pandemic and not just the past two weeks.
"While you think the relationship and the development of guidance just happened over the past few weeks, it's really been a conversation that's been occurring throughout the whole COVID period," Fusco said.
Tarja Parssinen is a parent advocate and part of an organization called "Open NY Schools Now." She was thrilled to hear the county stress the importance of kids being in school every day, which she said went unacknowledged by officials last year. However, she's worried about the odds of a school closure.
"Kids at 3 feet are still quarantined even if masked," Parssinen said. "If there are two cases in a class, all unvaccinated people must quarantine for 10 days. For elementary schools, of course, they're all unvaccinated, which means they're out of school for 10 days. There's no remote learning option. They're home maybe with some paperwork and the parents have to take off. It's highly disruptive."
According to the county guidance, fully vaccinated individuals identified as close contacts do not have to quarantine. All unvaccinated students within 3 feet or teachers and staff within 6 feet from a person who tested positive for 15 minutes must quarantine, regardless if masks were worn and must quarantine for 10 days.
"Persons who are not fully vaccinated should be tested immediately after being identified, and, if negative, tested again in 5-7 days after last exposure or immediately if COVID-19 symptoms develop during quarantine," the guidance reads.
Seating charts will also play an impact on the need to quarantine. If there is no seating chart, the county will consider all people who are unvaccinated to be a close contact and must quarantine for 10 days. If there is a seating chart and two or more cases in a classroom during a 10-day period, all unvaccinated individuals in the class will quarantine for 10 days.
Parssinen said the quarantine guidance was one of the biggest red flags from Monday's news conference. She is worried about a prolonged mask mandate's potential impact on things like language development in young children.
She urged districts to have the conversation now with parents regarding quarantine and masking.
