Carson City School Board, Board of Supervisors hold joint meeting Thursday evening
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 09/02/2021 - 7:59pm
A joint meeting between the the Carson City School Board, Board of Supervisors was held Thursday night, where the new mask mandate in schools, contact tracing, the School Resource Officer program, new developments, and more were discussed.
Carson City Director of Health and Human Services Nicki Aaker spoke on the collaborative efforts being made between CCHHS and the school district.
Tara Barnett, Biostatistician for CCHHS, went over the process for COVID regulations at the schools.
According to Barnett, there has been a major challenge undergoing contact tracing with students not being universally required to wear masks. 500 students have so far been determined to be close contacts of positive cases.
A student is determined to be a close contact to a positive case, and must be excluded from school, if they are within 3 feet or less of a positive case without wearing a mask. However, if a student is 3-6 feet from a positive case and both students are wearing masks, the student does not need to be excluded, according to Barnett.
According to Barnett, there is currently a nationwide shortage of rapid tests, so testing will continue for as long as supplies prevail. Within the school system, testing is being prioritized to individuals who are in athletics and for close contacts of positive cases.
Aaker stated they are working with the state to try and receive additional tests.
A team of thirteen social workers were trained in contact tracing in order to assist school nurses for contact tracing, said Barnett, so that school nurses do not become burned out and weren’t being required to work weekends or nighttime hours.
CCSD and Quad County Data shows that cases in the student population have continued to double over the last several two-week periods of data, according to Barnett.
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong and Sergeant Matt Smith gave a short presentation regarding their School Resource Officer (SRO) program, and Furlong commended Carson City School District Superintendent Richard Stokes for his years of leadership.
Smith, who leads the SRO program, stated the program allows students to know officers are there for them.
Smith stated one of the program’s proudest moments is when a juvenile called 911 stating he was having suicidal thoughts, and specifically asked for SRO officers because he knew them, and trusted them, and that student is still alive today, said Smith.
Smith stated he and another deputy came up with a curriculum designed to educate students on the dangers of marijuana, cyber bullying, and a number of other issues affecting young people.
“We want to build those bridges,” said Smith.
“The program truly has been invaluable,” said School Board President Joe Cacioppo.
During the meeting, eighteen individuals gave public comment.
Comments ranged from opposing vaccine mandates, which do not exist, to claiming there are no studies to support that masks help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, to asking the board to remove Governor Steve Sisolak’s mandates, as well as being against California Governor Gavin Newsome.
Out of those eighteen individuals, only one stated they had children in the Carson City School District, and that individual stated they were happy about the masks returning to the school districts, and that the children were happy to comply because they knew they were protecting older, more vulnerable individuals.
One individual stated her child had previously been in the school district, but she had removed them from the district following COVID-19.
A presentation was also given by Hope Sullivan of the Planning Department, who stated that populations of juveniles are declining in Carson City, which will have an impact on schools.
She also went over the different housing developments that are currently under construction that are zoned for either single family residential or multi-family residential.
The estimated affect to the school district from these new developments could be 69 new students from single family detached developments, and 32 students from new multi-family and apartment developments.
